The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Uahekua Herunga, officially opened the Otjiwa Vulture Restaurant and Rehabilitation Centre, last week.
This centre is about 40 kilometers outside Otjiwarongo. These centres are important to create awareness and to educate everyone that is interested in vultures. Herunga said that these initiatives add value to the work of the ministry. It ensures the long-term survival of vultures and other birds of prey.
Vultures play a big part in the ecosystem and should be protected. It is important to keep as many adult breeding birds in the population because there’s only one chick produced every two years.
The minister also added that vultures should be seen as friends, especially for farmers. They circle around dead animals, an indication to the farmer that there are dead livestock. Vultures also devour carcasses quickly, preventing the spread of diseases and the breeding of blowflies.
Farmers can make contributions to vulture conservation with practical, economic and hygienic carcass disposal methods to these centres. They could further assist conservation by recording the number and species of vultures and to report marked birds. Herunga said that the first vulture restaurant was established in 1987 in the Waterberg Plateau Park.
As 2010 marks the International Year of Biodiversity, such developments are encouraging, especially during a global economic downturn. The minister was happy to see such commitments to biodiversity conservation.
This centre will nurse sick and injured birds before releasing them back in the wild. At the opening, a vulture was released into the wild.
