NCF celebrates International Vulture Awareness Day
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NFC) has joined the world to celebrate the International Vulture Awareness Day, IVAD, which aims at raising awareness about the threat of extinction that vultures are facing today globally.
IVAD also seeks to promote a co-ordinated international effort to publicise the conservation of vultures to a wider audience.
Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, Director General, NCF in a statement on Sunday in Abuja noted that Vultures have been under severe threat in recent years due to certain superstitious beliefs in Africa.
He stressed that in recent decades NCF had been concerned about the wildlife birds partners dramatic decline of vultures species not just in Nigeria but the whole of West Africa.
“This serious decline of vultures in West Africa is as a result of superstitious beliefs that vulture parts can be used to cure certain illnesses or bring about good luck.
“We are delighted to be part of the International Vulture Day awareness and in particular to be part of the Bird life Africa Forum which will soon be inaugurated to consolidate the conservation work that will hopefully save this threatened species in Africa,” he said.
The NCF DG said that to address the issue the NCF had brought together all relevant stakeholders and traditional healers to create awareness and develop substitutes of plants-based alternatives to vulture parts.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, about 75 per cent of all vultures globally are threatened with extinction, he said.
The International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) is usually celebrated on the first Saturday in September every year to show the human kind’s appreciation for vultures and the ecosystem services they provide.
