Using plants instead of vulture parts for belief-based practices is helping to tackle poaching of the birds in some regions of Nigeria, say conservationists. Vulture populations have collapsed in Nigeria. The country was once home to seven vulture species; recent surveys recorded only two, the critically endangered hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) and the palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis). Habitat loss, poisoning and poaching for belief-based uses, such as the use of vulture parts in traditional medicines or to bring luck or success, are the primary drivers of their rapid decline. In recent years conservation groups, including the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), have engaged with traditional medicine practitioners to reduce demand for vulture parts. Stella Egbe, species conservation manager at NCF, told Mongabay that many practitioners are switching to plant alternatives, likely because of awareness-raising, increased law enforcement and higher prices of vulture parts in some regions. Chief Samson Ola Soyoye, vice president of the National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners, told Mongabay the use of vulture parts has a long history in medicinal practices in Nigeria. “That’s when the vultures were many but now [they are] rapidly going into extinction,” he said. “My view is to look for alternative plants instead of vultures.” More than 20 plants are now used in place of vulture parts in some places, Egbe said, adding that the conservation status of the plant alternatives also needs to be assessed. To date, the African mahogany tree (Khaya ivorensis), also known as oganwo, is the only species…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Cat kills rodent. Cat eats rodent. Cat is exposed to potentially lethal rodenticides. That scenario is increasingly likely for many small wild cat species across the globe, and yet, only a handful of researchers are investigating this underrecognized conservation issue. Thus far, researchers confirmed that one wild cat population has declined from exposure to these poisons. That’s a small bobcat (Lynx rufus) living on Kiawah Island off the South Carolina coast in the U.S., which faces imminent local extinction due to rodenticides. Up until 2019, there was a stable population of these beloved cats, which are considered celebrities there, but that year, three cats died. Among them was a female that bled to death while giving birth. Postmortems revealed concoctions of rodenticides in each of the bobcats’ blood and livers. Over the next four years, there were 12 more victims and the bobcats’ overall survival rate fell to 39%. All tested positive for concentrations of anticoagulant rodenticides; some had been acutely poisoned, said Meghan Keating, a doctoral candidate at South Carolina’s Clemson University. That was a troubling sign for a population that now numbers less than 20 individuals. They are regularly exposed to rodenticides, as rodents (including rats) are a major part of their diet, Keating said. Also troubling is that her team found exposure to not just one, but a cocktail of rodenticides. “We haven’t had a bobcat test positive for less than two rodenticides,” she told Mongabay. Kiawah Island’s rodenticide-driven bobcat decline may be an outlier, given its…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Conservationists warn that vulture populations in central African countries like Chad are increasingly at risk due to belief-based use in Nigeria and Benin. Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra, a research fellow at the International Bird Conservation Partnership, told Mongabay he was out in Chad, photographing vultures, when a man offered to help him capture the birds. Vultures love donkey meat, the man said. All Chaffra had to do was buy a donkey and leave its poisoned carcass in the open. The man told Chaffra he had helped many people catch vultures this way. In West African countries like Nigeria and Benin, vultures are poached both alive and dead for beliefs that they bring luck, success or protection against witchcraft. Vulture parts, including head and feet, eggs and nests, are also used. This demand is now reaching vulture populations in Central Africa. A juvenile hooded vulture for sale at a market in Benin. Image courtesy of Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra. In a recent paper, researchers detailed how critically endangered hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were absent around most slaughterhouses and landfill sites they visited near N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. “That doesn’t really make sense, because there’s a ton of food,” said study co-author Nico Arcilla, president of the International Bird Conservation Partnership. Nearly half the local residents interviewed by the researchers said they knew of recent poisoning incidents in the area, and more than one-third stated they were aware of poachers from countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Benin and Cameroon trapping or killing vultures. “The driver…This article was originally published on Mongabay

More than a decade ago, conservationists began working to preserve a unique population of desert pampas cats that has adapted to the mangroves of Peru’s northern coast. This small, isolated population roams the San Pedro de Vice dry mangroves, a Ramsar Site and South America’s southernmost mangrove ecosystem. “This is a very unique population, because as far as we know, [it] is the only Pampas cat population that lives in a mangrove [habitat],” Alvaro Garcia, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project, told Mongabay in an email. The desert pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi), distinctive for its broad face, ranges along a relatively thin band snaking southward from Colombia through Peru and Bolivia, to northern Chile and Argentina. The species is acclimated to dry conditions, so inhabits deserts, grasslands and dry forests, and isn’t found living in mangroves anywhere else aside from this region of Peru. Dry mangrove forests, also called scrub or dwarf mangrove forests, grow in highly saline soils in upper intertidal zones, so lack regular daily flushing by ocean tides. At first, it was thought the dry mangrove-acclimated cats were faring well: “[I]n the mangrove [habitat], we put cameras out for a week, and we got tons of photos,” whereas in other parts of the felid’s range, conservationists barely capture one desert pampas cat image per month, said Cindy Hurtado, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project. Based on the photos, the research team assumed the…This article was originally published on Mongabay