SA Bird Series: Critically Endangered VulturesText by André Botha Technical information: Stamp issue date: 23 January 2026
African vultures have declined drastically over the last 30 years to the level where four species are currently listed as globally Critically Endangered and another two as Endangered. This decline was the motivation for the drafting of an international Multi-species Action Plan for African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) in 2017, which aims to stop this trend through effective intervention. Poisoning in its various forms is the most significant threat to these birds in Africa and also impacts other wildlife across the continent. To draw attention to the challenges faced by these ecologically significant birds, the South African Post Office has issued a unique collection of B5 rate stamps, accompanied by a Commemorative Display Card (CDC). The stunning images featured on both the stamps and the Commemorative Display Card were captured by André Botha. South Africa boasts a proud legacy of more than five decades of conservation action focused on vultures. There are currently a range of actions that are being implemented with the aim to reduce the impact of wildlife poisoning, energy infrastructure, and other threats, and to facilitate the collection of quantitative data on vulture populations in identified gap areas within the country. Government, NGOs, and communities are working together towards achieving these actions via the National Biodiversity Management Plan for Vultures in South Africa. It is mainly thanks to the dedication and hard work of conservationists from all sectors that the Cape Vulture, a near-endemic species to southern Africa, was down-listed from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2021. The population of this species is currently considered stable to increasing, with the larger known breeding colonies containing the highest numbers of breeding pairs since monitoring started in 1973, and several formerly defunct colonies have been repopulated and are now thriving. However, there is no room for complacency as the country currently faces the scourge of wildlife poisoning in the Greater Kruger National Park and elsewhere in the country that has killed more than three thousand African White-backed, Hooded, White-headed, and Lappet-faced Vultures since 2013. Additional threats such as belief-based use trade of vulture body parts, loss of suitable nesting trees, disturbance, and fragmentation of foraging and breeding habitat continue to pose a threat to the continued presence of these ecologically important birds on the landscape. Vultures play a vital role in the clean-up of carcasses and other organic waste from the environment, inhibiting the spread of certain diseases and reducing the prevalence of risk from diseases such as rabies conveyed by feral dogs and other less effective scavengers that tend to proliferate in the absence of vultures. There is simply no other group of animals on the planet that can fulfill this important task as efficiently and fast as vultures can. It is almost unthinkable that vultures may disappear from South Africa's skies, but we must continue working to conserve these birds in perpetuity to ensure this does not become reality
Resident vulture species in South Africa featured on this set of stamps are: Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) African White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus) Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) CDC
Acknowledgement: - André Botha. - For more information on the conservation of vultures globally, visit: - IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group (https://www.iucnvsg.org) and - International Vulture Awareness Day (https://vultureday.org). - More information: André Botha, Co-chair IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group: |
