South African Conservation

By Megan De Souza

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Acknowledgements

What does it mean to be dedicated? To feel immense passion for a cause that one altruisti-cally devotes one’s life to, to further that cause. This is just a small part of what dedication means to the conservationists documented in this book. Their fierceness and love for wildlife is contagious and inspiring as it ensures the continued conservation and rehabil-itation of the animals they help protect and care for. South Africans owe a huge gratitude to these ‘warriors of wildlife’ as they fight to protect South Africa’s wildlife population from the many threats facing them today.

This book would not have been possible if it were not for the support and cooperation of all those involved in the chosen conservation initiatives. Special gratitude must be ex-tended to Nicci Write, Senior Animal Manager at FreeMe: Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, for granting permission to document the various day-to-day activities of the organization. It must also be noted that the volunteers of FreeMe played an integral role in helping with the project. Their ardent enthusiasm and willingness to teach resulted in a greater un-derstanding and appreciation of the work they do for wildlife. The assistance of Jonathan Haw, director at Ecosolutions was much appreciated in the efforts to document their work with owls. Lastly, a tremendous gratitude is owed to Kerri Wolter, founder and manager of VulPro and Walter Neser, for their invaluable assistance, guidance and patience in sharing the inner workings of the exciting world of vultures.

To Heidi Saayman-Hattingh and Glenn Meyer, I owe you many thanks for all the patience, guidance and support you have offered throughout the project.

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Introduction

“Wildlife conservation is destined to be one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century” (Wildlands Press, 2001: ¶4). This statement, written by William Conway for the opening essay of ‘The Living Wild’, paints a true account of the struggle to conserve our wildlife and the importance of meeting that challenge by individuals willing to fight to change or implement government policies, as well as people’s viewpoints. According to ‘Animal Be-haviour and Wildlife Conservation’, conservation is concerned principally with the viability of populations, communities and habitats (Gosling, L.M, 2003: 13). If one were to keep in mind the previous statement on conservation and consider the views in the book ‘Conservation in a changing world’ one would clearly see the urgency of the situation. The book exposes the rate of species extinction on our planet, which suggests:

“Recent estimates are that impending rates of species loss are between three and five orders of magnitude higher than background extinction levels...with annual losses running at around 0.80% (equivalent to about 1800 populations every hour)” (Balmford, A., Mace, G.M., Ginsberg, J.R., 1998: 1).

According to ‘Biotic Diversity in Southern Africa: concepts and conservation’, the first non-governmental organization (NGO) initiative “to develop a National Environmental Con-servation Policy and Strategy” was put forward in 1981 by the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa. It was the first time that an NGO had drafted a document of that kind, taking a step forward towards a brighter conservation era in South Africa.

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To date, out of the 299 mammal species South Africa plays host to, two species are consid-ered critically endangered, according to the IUCN Red List. The list detailing the threatened status of mammal species includes two species in South Africa thought to be extinct, while “11 are endangered, 15 are vulnerable, and 13 are near-threatened” (Academic, 2001: ¶ 1).

Most notably, the black Rhino is the most publicized case of endangered species in South Africa while the Riverine rabbit is currently considered to be South Africa’s most endan-gered specie. Other endangered mammals on the list include the Wild dog and the Roan antelope, while the endangered bird species include the Wattled crane and the Blue swallow. ‘Threatened’ status signifies that a species is at risk of appearing on the endangered list in the future if preventative action is not taken. The African Penguin and the Cape vulture are both on the ‘threatened’ species list and are at risk of becoming an endangered species if preventative measures are not put in place to secure the continued existence of the species (Lonely planet, 2012: ¶ 1).

The protection and conservation of these species through strategic wildlife management is what is needed to encourage population growth. This book aims to serve as a visual documentary for the efforts organizations and individuals make to bring awareness to their causes.

The programs that were chosen for the photo-documentary were VulPro (Vulture Conserva-tion programme), Ecosolutions conservation program, and FreeMe Indigenous wildlife cen-tre and most of the information in this book was obtained while observing their work.

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Ecosolutions

Ecosolutions, situated in Johannesburg, runs many initiates involving the community to ensure the longevity and success of their projects. Many of the locals in South African townships have superstitious beliefs that owls are bad omens, harbingers of death. Eco-solutions started the owl box project which encourages people to buy owl boxes, helping to control the rodent population so there is no need for rat poison. Ecosolutions run these programs in schools as well as townships to encourage the community to get involved with the programs. Workers in factories and warehouses with Owl boxes are also encouraged to get involved which results in them slowly losing their fear of owls (Hartigh, 2011:¶7).

Barn OwlTyto Alba

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Feeding time at Ecosolutions can get noisy as there are many chicks that make ‘hissing’ noises to get the feeders’ attention. Owls eat meat and rarely drink water as they get all the moisture they need from the food they eat. Generally an owlet’s first flight will be at about 10 weeks.

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These owls are part of the owl box project and have just been released to control the rodent population around that area. Barn Owls are nocturnal and hunt at night, relying heavily on their sense of hearing to capture their prey. Owls have one ear that is higher that the other, helping them to pinpoint the tiniest of sounds. The feathers around the edge of the Barn owl’s face forms a heart shape and creates a ‘disk’, “ which works to trap and focus sound, rather like our outer ears” (Barn owl trust, 2012: ¶1).

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FreeMe: Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

FreeMe, situated in Johannesburg near the Rietfontein Nature Reserve, aims to rescue, rehabilitate and release indigenous wildlife. On average, 10 000 animals are treated by FreeMe with the help of local veterinarians (FreeMe, 2012: ¶1). Once treated, the indig-enous animals can be released onto reservations or designated areas chosen by FreeMe. Hadeda’s are a common sight in the FreeMe clinic during Johannesburg’s winter months as the ground is too hard for the birds to penetrate. The lack of food, results in weak, emaciated Hadeda’s which are vulnerable to attacks from domestic animals and the many other dangers of urban life.

Hadeda Bostrychia hadedash

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Far Left: The FreeMe clinic receives many cases of accidental poisonings, especially among the bird population. In this particular case a Secretary bird had ingested poison and was lucky enough to be treated in time with activated charcoal which absorbs the poison. The bird was left temporarily paralyzed and was treated with a rehydrate solution.

Left: The chameleon, brought in by a concerned woman, was bought from a vendor in Johannesburg selling chameleons for R40. The chameleon was also given a rehydrate solution.

Cape Dwarf CharmeleonBradypoion pumilum

Secretary bird Sagittarius serpentarious

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Barn Owl

Rock MonitorVanaus aligularis

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Eastern Tiger SnakeTelescopus semiannulatus

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Left: The Eastern Tiger snake can lay anywhere from 6- 20 eggs in Summer and although they are usually found on the ground, there have been cases where they are in tree’s or roofs in search of small mammals. Left: Within the last few months, most of the African Olive pigeons that have been admitted to the clinic have had to be humanely euthanized as they carry a disease called

Nata Red Rock RabitPronolagus natalensis

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Trichomoniasis. This disease affects the mouth, throat and gastrointestinal system of the pigeon and is highly contagious to other birds. Birds are routinely tested as they enter the clinic to limit the contact they share with the other birds in the clinic.

Right: Penny Morkel, clinic manager, asses the damage to the Tomb bat’s right wing. De-pending on the extent of the damage, it can take months for the skin to grow and repair itself.

Penny Morkel

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Tomb BatsEmballonuridae

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VulPro: Vulture conservation Programme

VulPro is a non-profit organization whose aim is for the protection andConservation of the Cape and African Vulture through various breeding and education programs to ensure the continued survival of the species (VulPro, 2012: ¶1). VulPro based in Hartebeespoort, Gauteng, have the 4 largest breeding programs in the world, situated in Magaliesberg, Kransberg, Blouberg, Manoutsa as well as Namibia (VulPro, 2012: ¶10).

Cape VuttureGyps coprotheres

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Process of ‘assisted hatching’.

The process begins when the couple lay their egg and the egg is then swopped with an artificial or ‘dummy’ egg. The egg is then put into an incubator for 54 days during which it is constantly rotated and turned on an hourly basis in the incubator. Once the egg weighs 10 % less than it’s original weight at the start (due to the nutrients being absorbed by the chick), it is near ready to hatch. Once ‘piping’ has started, a term used when the chick begins calling it’s mother from inside the egg when it breaks through to the air space, it will take approximately 24 hours to start hatching. After ‘piping’ begins, the egg is no longer turned or rotated but it remains in the incubator at a constant 42 degrees Celsius.

Cape Vulture - hatching

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In this case the chick was assisted as it had not yet broken the shell. A tiny hole was made to break the shell and the slow process of breaking away the shell using tweezers began. Veins inside the egg carry oxygen to the fetus as well as CO2 to be expelled through the egg shell. The process of hatching the egg can not be rushed as there are veins and blood vessels in the egg that are still active. Parts of the egg are broken off with tweezers until an active vein is reached, in which case it is put back into the incubator until the vein ‘dries up’ or becomes inactive. If hatched too quickly, a mistake often made by enthusi-astic first time parents, an active vein can be clipped and the chick can bleed to death. Throughout the process, the amniotic sac is kept moistened with IV fluid from a syringe so it does not constrict and suffocate the chick.

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Towards the end of the assisted hatching, after many hours of chipping away small seg-ments at a time, only a small part of the egg remained attached to the chick through the umbilical chord. Once the umbilical chord was carefully cut, the chick was back into the incubator to recover a bit before being reunited with its parents in the morning.

Unfortunately, when the chick was placed back with the parents in the morning, the over-eager mother accidently killed it.

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Cape Vulture

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The Cape Vulture

Adult Height: 1 - 1.2 mWeight: 7.5 - 9.5 kgWingspan: 2.55 m

Although the Cape vulture is not yet endangered in South Africa, they are listed as listed by the IUCN as “critically endangered” and are now extinct as a breeding species (Vul-Pro, 2012: ¶15) in Namibia. The Cape Vulture is listed as threatened by the IUCN and is indigenous only to South Africa. According to surveys conducted by VulPro, there are approximately “2400 breeding pairs in the wild” (VulPro, 2012: ¶17) and an estimate of “[twelve] wild Cape Vultures” still in Namibia. The biggest threat to the Cape Vulture as well as other vulture species around the world, are human beings. On the list of threats to vultures, VulPro states that “[p]ower line electrocutions and collisions[,] together with inadvertent poisoning[,] remain two of the greatest threats that vultures as well as other birds of prey are facing in Southern Africa” (VulPro, 2012: ¶17).

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Whitebacked VultureGyps africanas

Lappetfaced Vulture Torgas trachelious

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Most vultures mate for life and the male and female alternate sitting on the egg. Vultures generally lay only one egg per year, and the success rate from birth to the breeding age of seven years is approximately five percent (VulPro, 2012: ¶9) .

Lappetfaced Vulture

Eastern Tiger SnakeTelescopus Semiannulatus

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The White-Backed Vulture:

White-backed Vulture:Adult Height: 90 -100 cmWeight: 5.5 kgWingspan: 2.2 m

These vultures are the most sociable of all the vultures and travel in groups, often nest-ing in large colonies and scaring off other scavengers due to the sheer number of them arriving at the kill.

Whitebacked VultureGypaetus africanas

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Cape Vulture

Whitebacked Vulture

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Whitebacked Vulture - feeding

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Lappet-Faced Vulture:

Adult height: 98-105 cmWeight: 6.5 kgWingspan: 2.8 m

Lappet-Faced vultures are the largest vultures in Africa and get their name from the bright red ‘lappets’ and skin folds on either side of their face. Although they are not very sociable, often just travelling in pairs, they will join other vultures at a kill sight or watering hole. They are not usually the first vultures at the kill sight but on arrival the Lappet-faced vulture quickly establishes dominance, bullying other vultures to get to the carcass.

Luppetfaced

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Vulture Restaurant

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Reference List:

Academic. 2001. List of mammals in South Africa. [Online]. Available: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/6188458 [Accessed 18 October 2012].

Barn owl trust. 2012. Barn owl info for kids. [Online]. Avaialble:http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.html?Id=76 [Accessed 20 October 2012].

FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation centre. 2012. FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation centre. [On-line]. Available: http://www.freemewildlife.org.za/index.html?lf=1&pg=1 [Accessed 21 May 2012].

Den Hartigh, W. 2011. South African firms turn to green pest control . [Online]. Available:http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=2213:owl-140211&catid=48:innovationnews&Itemid=115. [Accessed 23 April]

Huntley, B.J (ed.). 1989. Biotic Diversity in Southern Africa: Concepts and Conservation. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

Lonely planet. 2012. South Africa wildlife: endangered species. [Online]. Available: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/wildlife/endangered-species [Accessed 18 October 2012].

VulPro. 2012. VulPro. [Online]. Available: www.vulpro.com. [Accessed 20 May 2012]

Watson, F.L and Lom, B. 2007. More than a Picture: Helping Undergraduates Learn to Communicate through Scientific Images. Available: http://www.lifescied.org/con-tent/7/1/27.short. [Accessed 18 October 2012].

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About The Author

Megan De souza was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1990 and became interest-ed in photography when she moved to Brazil at the age of 15. Megan now specializes in wildlife, documentary and landscape photography. Through photography, Megan feels that it is imperative to inform society about wildlife conservation by documenting ecological issues.

Megan has received her National Diploma in Photography (2009) from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NNMU).She is currently based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

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Special Thanks to:

Glenn Meyer. Heidi Saayman-Hattingh. Jonathan Haw. Kerri Wolter. Nicci Write. Walter Neser.