Vultures in the Kingdom are facing an increasingly high risk of extinction as the birds have shown a 50 per cent decline in numbers since the late 2000s, a joint announcement from environmental organisations said on Saturday, quoting a report.
The report showed that declines have
become particularly noticeable across forestlands in the country’s
eastern plains, where historically as many as 30 animals were recorded
during a single count. Current surveys often top out at 10.
“It is of great concern that only 121 of these majestic birds were
recorded in this year’s national census, the lowest number on record
since 2003. Recent assessments indicate that poisoning is the major
threat to vulture populations in Cambodia,” the report continued.
Officials cited in the document say that the country’s three vulture
species, the red-headed, slender-billed and white-rumpled, are all on
the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list,
indicating they are critically endangered.
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“Northern Cambodia is the only place in Southeast Asia where vultures
can still be found in large numbers. Tourists come to see them at our
vulture restaurant at Dong Phlet in Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary.
“But during the past five years, at least 30 vultures have been
killed in Cambodia due to widespread indiscriminate use of deadly
poisons and pesticides across the country, which is severely impacting
the vulture population and also threatening human lives,” said Simon
Mahood, a senior technical adviser at the Kingdom’s Wildlife
Conservation Society.
He said that besides poisoning, Cambodia’s vultures suffer from
habitat loss and food shortages caused by low numbers of wild ungulates
(hoofed animals) and domestic cattle.
Increased levels of forest loss, land conversion and poaching as a
result of economic land concessions, land encroachment and selective
logging have negatively impacted the birds through a loss of nesting
sites and reduction in natural prey availability as snaring for wild
meat has dramatically increased across Cambodia.
“Results of vulture censuses in the last five years show a worrying
trend, as less than 130 birds were counted in 2017 and 2018,” said Bou
Vorsak, Cambodia program manager of BirdLife International.
Source TheNation
