Health

Witch doctors blamed for killing 100 vultures in safari park in South Africa


Witch doctors are believed to be behind the brutal killing of more than 100 vultures at South Africa’s most famous safari park, butchering them for use in black magic potions.

A buffalo was first poisoned, and when vultures began to surround it in Kruger National Park, they soon descended to eat the beast.

As the scavengers began to clean up the carcasses, a powerful poison entered the birds’ bodies, and then they began to collapse in agony around the destroyed half of the buffalo.

Even a lone hyena that had come to share in the murder was found dead among a huge herd of vultures that surrounded the buffalo after being eaten by poisoned wolves.

The illegal trade in vultures’ body parts – especially their heads, curved beaks and wicked claws known as ‘muti’ – causes them to be turned into poison and is threatening their very existence .

Rangers on patrol caught the grisly mass poisoning near the main gate of Punda Maria on Thursday and rescued 20 very sick vultures near a fence bordering a local village.

Witch doctors reported killing more than 100 vultures (pictured) at South Africa's most popular safari park, butchering endangered birds for use in black magic

Witch doctors reported killing more than 100 vultures (pictured) at South Africa's most popular safari park, butchering endangered birds for use in black magic

Witch doctors reported killing more than 100 vultures (pictured) at South Africa’s most popular safari park, butchering endangered birds for use in black magic

Kruger National Park's Punda Maria entrance gate near where the vulture was found

Kruger National Park's Punda Maria entrance gate near where the vulture was found

Kruger National Park’s Punda Maria entrance gate near where the vulture was found

They were loaded into a ranger station wagon to a nearby rehabilitation center for emergency treatment by Endangered Wildlife.

Two similar poisonings occurred in Kruger last year, and around the same time as the latest mass poisoning, another 50 vultures were also poisoned across the Botswana border at Chobe.

SANParks Acting Chief Inspector Hapiloe Sello said: ‘This reprehensible act once again highlights the growing danger of wildlife poisoning by unscrupulous people.

‘The scene has been cordoned off for further investigation and the carcasses have been burned to ensure that there is no further poisoning and that we have 20 birds still alive.

‘Initial indications are that the corpses are being harvested for their body parts and SANParks can confirm that we have referred the matter to the police for a full investigation.

‘Forest rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo that appeared to have been poisoned and they found more than 100 dead vultures and one hyena that had eaten.

Experts say the white-headed vulture is critically endangered and the illegal trade in body parts is putting the species at increasing risk of extinction.  Photo: vulture carcass in the park

Experts say the white-headed vulture is critically endangered and the illegal trade in body parts is putting the species at increasing risk of extinction.  Photo: vulture carcass in the park

Experts say the white-headed vulture is critically endangered and the illegal trade in body parts is putting the species at increasing risk of extinction. Photo: vulture carcass in the park

She added: ‘Poisonings of this scale due to the globally endangered nature of vultures put this critically endangered species at increasing risk of extinction, so we must end it now. hours’ ‘.

Healers or witch doctors believe that the body parts of vultures can give the drinkers clairvoyance, increase intelligence and cure incurable diseases.

They also claim ‘muti’ can give those who buy it the ability to appease ancestors, and vulture-based concoctions have even been promoted to villagers as a cure for Covid.

Many superstitious locals also believe that vultures possess superpowers and that ‘muti’ made from vulture brains help see the future and can even help win the lottery.

A research paper published in the Journal of Raptor Research last year said: ‘Vultures have been acquired for use in traditional medicine by poisoning them in reserves like the KNP.

‘Vultures are reported to range in price from R300 (£15) to R1500 (£75) for the whole bird.

In the photo: Acting Chief Inspector SANParks Hapiloe Sello

In the photo: Acting Chief Inspector SANParks Hapiloe Sello

In the photo: Acting Chief Inspector SANParks Hapiloe Sello

Researchers who spoke to 51 healers in Mpumulanga province alone said they employ 800 vultures a year but across the continent the number would be much higher.

Only 270,000 white-backed vultures are estimated to have left the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has placed them on the red list of critically endangered species.

They are a very slow breeder, hatching only one egg per year, and at the current rate of poaching for the purposes of witchcraft, it is estimated they could become extinct within 45 years.

Savage scavengers weigh up to 9 lbs, are 3.5 feet long and have a wingspan of 7 feet, and their eyesight is so good that it’s 20 times better than humans and they can see 8 times farther.

Their powerful and hooked beak can rip through a kilo of a dead animal’s flesh and consume them within a minute and will eat until they’re so full that they often can’t take off again for many hours. hours.

They soar up to 8,000 ft in search of dead or dying animals on the savannah below, and a committee of vultures will patiently wait in the trees for 36 hours for an animal to die.

The worst recorded case of vulture poisoning was in Botswana in 2019 when three elephants were poisoned and 537 vultures died after eating their carcasses.



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