Over the course of the past two months we have had 5 cape vultures and 2 hooded vultures brought into the clinic. Unfortunately, the Cape vulture that was brought in to us after being confiscated from poachers. He was doing amazing in his outside enclosure for about 5 days, when out of the blue he began to show signs of dizziness and confusion. These odd episodes became more frequent and we started him on anti-inflammatory and fluids. He was relapsing because of the poison in his system. Very sadly after 2 days of treatment we found him deceased in his enclosure. It’s a significant loss when you lose any animal but it hits you even harder when it is an endangered species, especially one that is in that situation because of human actions.

We were recently called out to collect 2 more cape vultures that were found close to the base of the Drakensberg mountains weak and hungry. The 2 young vultures had been found on the floor after a weekend of bad storms and strong winds which most likely blew them from the nest or meant they struggled to find their way back. Not being able to land on the nest means the parents would not feed the babies and therefore grow weaker as they do not scavenge for themselves yet. Luckily, they built up their strength quickly after admission and were put outside to join the other rehabbing vultures. They are doing very well!