Saving 'the world's most hideous bird'

Why should anyone care?

Less than two years ago, international experts held a workshop in Erbil, in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which considered, among other things, how to help the Egyptian vulture there. Leaflets distributed in Iraq included a first-aid guide for treating injured vultures. But in January, Erbil residents had to think of their own safety when the city suffered a deadly ballistic missile strike and several drones were intercepted.

At a time when conflicts are raging, people could be forgiven for not giving much thought to the fate of some obscure, declining species. Why should anyone care about what happens to the lappet-faced vulture?

“That sounds pretty anthropocentric,” says Ms Sarrouf Willson.

“Should we attend only to the conflicts and other problems, and at the end of that look around and find nothing living on the planet except us? 

“Loads of studies have shown the benefits to humans of nature – whether individual species, habitats or wider ecosystems. And on a very practical level, vultures help remove lots of waste from the environment for free.”

ESO has estimated that Egyptian vultures and steppe eagles – lappet-faced vultures are more shy – scavenging at three Omani rubbish dumps consume almost 21 tonnes of waste a year, says Ms Sarrouf Willson, who works on vulture initiatives with a team including international expert Mike McGrady.

Dr Virani says the decline of species such as the lappet-faced vulture is a warning of the wider collapse of ecosystems.

“We are living in a world where climate change is, without a doubt, an existential threat to humanity and all life. When keystone species such as vultures are rapidly declining, the ramifications on ecosystem health and integrity are dire.”

This was seen when species of South Asian vultures were almost wiped out in India from the mid-1990s due to ingesting diclofenac.

Feral dogs and rats – both of which carry rabies – filled the scavenger niche previously dominated by vultures. And without competition, their numbers soared.

But while a group of vultures can consume a whole cow in 40 minutes, dogs and rats are less efficient, leaving flesh behind. Leftovers polluted waterways, affecting water quality and creating conditions for the spread of diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis A and cholera.

 A 2023 working paper by environmental economists Eyal Frank of the University of Chicago and Anant Sudarshan of Warwick University in England confirmed that in parts of India where vultures had almost been wiped out there was indeed an increase in feral dog populations, more cases of rabies and a lowering of water quality. 

Once the birds disappeared, all-cause human death rates increased by more than 4 per cent in vulture-suitable districts – over 104,000 additional deaths a year.

“These outcomes are consistent with the loss of the scavenging function of the vultures,” said Mr Frank and Mr Sudarshan.

Dr Virani warns that the loss of a species today will affect tomorrow’s generations.

“When we upset the natural balance of ecosystems, the consequences will be felt by our children, so we should be concerned about the fate of every species.”

Chris Bowden, globally threatened species officer with UK bird protection charity the RSPB and programme manager with the Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction initiative, says conservationists constantly battle “less informed perceptions”.

“We urgently need major efforts to explain the crucial role played by vultures in the environment, and to emphasise how there are huge and growing numbers of people who see vultures as impressive, elegant and wonderful birds,” says Mr Bowden.

“Rural communities around the world have mainly held vultures up as precious disposers of rotting meat.

“Somehow, things have regressed with urbanisation, and people lose sight of the huge value that scavengers such as lappet-faced vultures bring.”

What are Gulf countries doing?

“The status of the lappet-faced vulture in the Arabian Peninsula has for long been obscure,” wrote ornithologist MD Gallagher in 1982.

So obscure, that up until about 1980, few researchers and ornithologists even realised it was there. Lappet-faced vultures were misidentified or not noticed.

But of course, locals were familiar with Al Nasr and, according to Mr Gallagher, seemed to get on fairly well. He said that while villagers in northern Oman “know of its presence, there appears to be no enmity against it”.

Indeed, Ms Al Shamsi says Al Nasr was not the bird that most frightened Al Ain locals when she was a child. Scarier was Al Hada – the black kite – which she recalls hearing had swooped down and clawed at a woman’s head. This fits, as the black kite is an opportunist that dives and snatches prey.  

Perhaps testimony to its notoriety – and maybe because it literally impacted people’s lives up close – Ms Al Shamsi recalls Al Hada being bigger than Al Nasr, even though black kites are much smaller.

Yet, the lappet-faced vulture is in decline in the Arabian Peninsula. While the African population has been projected to fall almost 80 per cent over 44 years, globally – Africa and Arabia – decline is estimated at 65 per cent.

Ms Al Shamsi says Al Nasr no longer visited open ground near Al Ain around the time she reached her teens, about 60 years ago.

It was last recorded breeding at Jebel Hafeet in the early 1980s, though was still numerous enough in the area that in 1982 a group was reported descending on Al Ain Zoo each day to scavenge carrion fed to zoo animals.

Visitors to Jebel Hafeet can still see the species; soaring high above the mountain, a pair flitting across a gully at dusk, or scavenging at roadside bins.

In 2021, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) said eight to 10 mature birds were crossing from nesting sites in Oman to between Al Ain and Al Hayer, 45km to the north. Globally, the lappet-faced vulture is listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. EAD lists it as Critically Endangered in its Local Red List Assessment Category.

It is also seen in Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, in the south-east of the emirate, a 225 square kilometre fenced-off area with controlled entry. In 2012, 47 lappet-faced vultures were recorded feeding on an oryx carcass. And the species is a regular sight at Dubai’s Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve.

Saudi Arabia is home to the majority of the region’s lappet-faced vultures. A stronghold is Mahazat As Sayd Protected Area, a fenced-in 2,553 square kilometre area, 170km north-east of Taif city. In the 1990s, 30 nests were located within a 40 square kilometre area.

Yet sanctuary in Mahazat As Sayd highlights challenges beyond its boundaries. In the early 1990s, Saudi vulture expert Mohammed Shobrak recorded numerous nests inside the protected area, but just six outside its boundary, of which only one was occupied. Rocks were snagged in branches and strewn around each tree, “probably thrown by shepherds”.

Arabian field ornithologist Mike Jennings, who this year makes his 75th trip to the region, says persecution is a major concern.

“Antipathy towards the species is one of the biggest threats facing the lappet-faced vulture. A lot of desert dwellers still think it will predate their stock,” says Mr Jennings, author of the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia and co-ordinator of the database of the same name.

As well as direct persecution, the birds face competition for trees from shepherds, who depend on them for shade for themselves and their livestock.

Community engagement is key to tackling these issues, says Ms Sarrouf Willson, whose NGO has had sponsorship from organisations including the Disney Conservation Fund and Oman-based facilities management company Renaissance Services SAOG.

“In 2022, we reached out to over 800 schoolchildren to introduce them to 11 species of raptors found in Oman,” she says.

ESO also made presentations to four Omani Women’s Association branches and the offices of eight regional governors. And to help dispel myths surrounding Al Nasr, ESO educational literature includes a cute cartoon lappet-faced vulture, while video posted on social media shows a young vulture learning to fly.

 “The community actively takes part in the research and location of nests, and we distribute certificates of appreciation to recognise their contributions,” says Ms Sarrouf Willson.

Food availability is another threat. Traditionally, vultures disposed of fallen livestock. However, as farming practices have changed, this food source has declined and wild species do not meet the shortfall. In Saudi Arabia, the demise of large carnivores – wolves and hyenas – means no leftovers from kills to scavenge.

In Oman, ESO is seeking to address this food shortage with an unlikely partner – the national waste disposal company.

Be’ah, which is managing the upgrade of Oman’s waste infrastructure, is working with ESO to incorporate “vulture restaurants” – or feeding stations – where carcasses are provided. This is part of revamps to the landfill sites where vultures already scavenge.

“Vulture restaurants are meant to provide safe food for scavenging birds. At the same time, they can be used to educate the public about vultures and safely dealing with anthropogenic waste,” says Ms Sarrouf Willson.

These also provide viewing opportunities for the public and can be the focus of citizen science research programmes, such as population monitoring.

“Integrating waste management by be’ah and waste disposal services provided by scavengers is beneficial to all,” she says.

Two vulture restaurants are also currently operational in the UAE, attracting both juvenile and adult birds.

Globally, power lines kill an estimated 11.6 million birds each year, both through collisions and electrocution. Between 1996 and 2003 in South Africa, 49 lappet-faced vultures were recorded killed this way.

“We believe the threat to raptors from electrocution by low-voltage distribution lines is significantly greater than all other threats combined,” says Dr Virani.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Raptor Conservation Fund has been working on reducing raptor electrocutions in Mongolia and Bulgaria, but its chief executive says solutions for Arabia would be more complex.

Poisoning is another threat – often insecticides used to control locusts. Oman banned diclofenac in 2020, after Iran, but ESO warns other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are also harmful.

Illicit trade is yet another challenge, with chicks taken from nests sold online to collectors or as “pets”. A CMS report said “illegal killing, taking and trade” was now a high threat in Oman. In 2022 alone, 14 lappet-faced vultures were found being sold online or kept in captivity by private owners.

Against these challenges, recent GPS tracking work by the Omani team has shown that lappet-faced vultures are wandering deep into the UAE, with potential to expand their range. One bird, “named” 190565, tagged as a nestling in Buraimi, north-west Oman, in May 2023, has since travelled a minimum of 36,000km; Al Nasr of old Arabia, tracked soaring barely 50km from Dubai's gleaming towers.   

But ...

In a wistful moment in 2022, the year before he died at the age of 81, vulture expert Peter Mundy reflected on his life’s work as a champion for southern Africa’s birdlife.

“I have sometimes wondered what good I did for the birds of Zimbabwe,” he wrote. “Certainly, I wrote lots of papers about them, and I ringed thousands of them. But …”

And at a time when the lappet-faced vulture is up against everything from lack of food and power lines to shepherds lobbing rocks into nests and people wanting a pet vulture, do the region’s conservationists sometimes harbour similar doubts about what their work will achieve?

“Some decline is likely, and sadly, inevitable, in my view,” says Ms Sarrouf Willson.

“However, there are good examples of raptor populations that have recovered, or at least stabilised, after being pushed towards extinction.”

These include the recovery of the California condor from 22 in 1987 to 500 birds today – around half in the wild; the Mauritius kestrel, from four individuals to 400 wild birds; and the red kite in the UK, its distinctive forked-tailed silhouette now a familiar sight in British skies, having been almost wiped out by the late 19th century.

Dr Virani cites the importance of action on a practical, everyday level. Work by the Mohamed bin Zayed Raptor Conservation Fund insulating 27,000 power poles in Mongolia has saved an estimated 18,000 raptors from electrocution.

“Yes, we certainly have our work cut out for us, but we have to be optimistic,” he says.

Now it's June, and as 2024’s lappet-faced vulture chicks leave their nests in Saudi Arabia and Oman, what will the future hold for them? Will they be increasingly confined to breeding in protected areas, facing growing hazards whenever they venture – which they will – beyond its boundaries?

Or will there be opportunities to extend their range?

“No, not now,” says Mr Jennings, who has been recording the peninsula’s birdlife since 1969. “They need quiet, sheltered places to nest, as this spreads over several months, and increasingly, they rely on protected areas.”

But Ms Sarrouf Willson says the distance lappet-faced vultures travel offers grounds for optimism.

“These birds can and will wander over huge areas,” she says. “In so far as wide ranging enables birds to seek out places where they might settle safely and encounter other individuals that they might mate with, then there is hope.

“Safe, undisturbed breeding habitat is needed with sufficient food. And as lappet-faced vultures take five or six years to mature, they need a safe environment in which to live during that time.”

If government agencies, NGOs and communities can together ensure undisturbed breeding habitats and safe nursery environments, the wandering lappet-faced vulture can do the rest and map a route back to reoccupy old haunts. It’s a big if.

But if that can happen, then perhaps one day it will again be commonplace to hear exasperated Emirati parents warning their children to behave … or else Al Nasr will eat them!