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An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya
Vultures are crucial scavengers, removing carcasses, and maintaining the healthy and clean environments. However, their populations are rapidly declining. Six of eight Kenyan vulture species are currently listed as ‘Endangered' or ‘Critically Endangered' on the IUCN Red List. Poisoning caused by hum...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613203655032832 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Sekyanzi, Joseph |
| author2 | Thomson, Robert |
| author_browse | Sekyanzi, Joseph Thomson, Robert |
| author_facet | Thomson, Robert Sekyanzi, Joseph |
| author_sort | Sekyanzi, Joseph |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Vultures are crucial scavengers, removing carcasses, and maintaining the healthy and clean environments. However, their populations are rapidly declining. Six of eight Kenyan vulture species are currently listed as ‘Endangered' or ‘Critically Endangered' on the IUCN Red List. Poisoning caused by human-wildlife conflicts is a major threat to vultures after belief-based use of their body parts. A total of 1387 interviews were administered within Maasai Mara pastoral community. We used the ‘Unmatched Count Technique' to estimate the prevalence and distribution of poison use, and direct questions to characterize poison types, usage and sources, as well as belief-based use of vulture body parts. We found that 54% of respondents reported Carbofuran poison, whereas nearly half (48%) of respondents pointed to agrovets as a major source of all poisons and popularly (84%) smeared on carcasses. The vast majority (75%) particularly use vulture feathers for arrows. Further, 22% fence off their livestock against predatory wildlife. We further explored how predation protection measures used predict individual poisoning likelihoods. None of the five main predation protection measures significantly influences poison use. Both fencing and the use of lights as predator control measures attenuate the poisoning risk. However, herding indicated weak signals for poison use amongst pastoralists. We proposed that an effective vulture poisoning risk reduction should be multi-faceted and collaborative. Regulating and monitoring of the import, local trading and use of poisonous substances. Building partnerships and engagements for more support for local livelihoods. Lastly, upscaling fencing and expanding the communal conservancies. These strategies would curb retaliatory human-wildlife conflicts and poison use against wildlife and vultures in Southern Kenya. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38160 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:24.523Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38160 An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya Sekyanzi, Joseph Thomson, Robert Conservation Biology Vultures are crucial scavengers, removing carcasses, and maintaining the healthy and clean environments. However, their populations are rapidly declining. Six of eight Kenyan vulture species are currently listed as ‘Endangered' or ‘Critically Endangered' on the IUCN Red List. Poisoning caused by human-wildlife conflicts is a major threat to vultures after belief-based use of their body parts. A total of 1387 interviews were administered within Maasai Mara pastoral community. We used the ‘Unmatched Count Technique' to estimate the prevalence and distribution of poison use, and direct questions to characterize poison types, usage and sources, as well as belief-based use of vulture body parts. We found that 54% of respondents reported Carbofuran poison, whereas nearly half (48%) of respondents pointed to agrovets as a major source of all poisons and popularly (84%) smeared on carcasses. The vast majority (75%) particularly use vulture feathers for arrows. Further, 22% fence off their livestock against predatory wildlife. We further explored how predation protection measures used predict individual poisoning likelihoods. None of the five main predation protection measures significantly influences poison use. Both fencing and the use of lights as predator control measures attenuate the poisoning risk. However, herding indicated weak signals for poison use amongst pastoralists. We proposed that an effective vulture poisoning risk reduction should be multi-faceted and collaborative. Regulating and monitoring of the import, local trading and use of poisonous substances. Building partnerships and engagements for more support for local livelihoods. Lastly, upscaling fencing and expanding the communal conservancies. These strategies would curb retaliatory human-wildlife conflicts and poison use against wildlife and vultures in Southern Kenya. 2023-07-28T06:35:20Z 2023-07-28T06:35:20Z 2023 2023-07-24T14:19:35Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38160 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science |
| spellingShingle | Conservation Biology Sekyanzi, Joseph An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| title_full | An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| title_fullStr | An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| title_short | An investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats: poisoning and belief-based use of vulture body parts in Southern Kenya |
| title_sort | investigation into the root of two of the main vulture threats poisoning and belief based use of vulture body parts in southern kenya |
| topic | Conservation Biology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38160 |
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