Flight of the Vulture
Sacha Dench investigates the plight of one of the world's most persecuted birds.
With their fearsome talons, acid poo and a penchant for rotting carcasses, the vulture has long been shouldered with associations of death, and dishonour. This taboo often puts them bottom of the list for conservation projects. Nevertheless, they are a keystone animal in every environment they live in. And in nearly every one, they're in trouble.
Conservationist Sacha Dench travels visits three different vulture species, each with an extraordinary story of persecution and survival.
In India, vulture populations collapsed by 99.9%, the sharpest decline of any animal ever recorded, in the 'Indian Vulture Crisis'. Debbie Pain and Chris Bowden describe the urgent international collaborative effort that brought them back from the very brink of extinction.
In South Africa, the White Backed Vulture has become collateral damage in the ongoing war between poachers and game-keepers. Sacha meets Kerri Wolter and Alistair Sinclair of Vulpro, the organisation that鈥檚 rescuing and rehabilitating these innocent bystanders.
Finally, in Guinea-Bissau, vultures are the victim of cultural practices which see their bodies as having magical properties. Sacha talks to Jose Tavares from the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and Andre Botha from the IUCN Vulture Group, who reveals the cultural practices which put the birds at risk.
Flight of the Vulture was presented by Sacha Dench, and produced by Emily Knight
Last on
Sacha's Mission to Save the Vulture
Find out more about the ways Sacha's charity, Conservation Without Borders, is helping the vultures in 10 key locations around the world, and how you could be part of it, here:
Broadcasts
- Wed 16 Apr 2025 15:30成人快手 Radio 4
- Thu 17 Apr 2025 05:04成人快手 Radio 4