Three endangered griffon vultures found dead in southern Israel, poison suspected
Parents and chick thought to have eaten carcass treated with anti-inflammatory drug; fourth bird from struggling population dies after hitting electric line
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
Two adult members of Israel’s endangered griffon vulture population were found dead along with their chick in southern Israel on Wednesday and Thursday, apparently after being poisoned via drug-treated carrion, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority announced Saturday.
The authority was alerted when a radio transmitter worn by one of the adult birds for monitoring purposes registered no movement. The bird’s partner and their chick were found miles away at the family’s cliffside nest in the Judean Desert.
The tracked bird, whose corpse was found near the Negev town of Yeruham, was born at a special breeding facility at the Jerusalem Zoo six years ago. Its partner was 20 years old. The chick’s age was not given.
A fourth vulture died separately last week in the Ein Gedi area after colliding with an electric cable.
The bodies of the three birds from the nest are undergoing autopsies to determine the cause of death.
The authority suspects that the birds may have consumed the carcass of an animal that had been treated with a veterinary nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID, while alive and had not been properly disposed of.
Uri Naveh, deputy chief scientist of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said additional vultures might have died by eating from the same corpse, but had not yet been found.
NSAIDs, which are used to treat livestock but can be poisonous when consumed in carrion, have been blamed for killing most of India’s wild vultures. Some of the drugs have been banned there.
The nature authority invests millions of shekels to breed griffon vultures and monitor and protect them. The efforts helped the population of birds grow from 110 in winter 2012 to 184 in winter 2020, but the population remains in danger of extirpation.
According to Ohad Hazofe, the INPA’s ecologist for birds of prey, Israel is currently home to 190 griffon vultures.
“This is a drastic decrease compared to the [distant] past and as a result, the king of birds may become extinct as a nester in Israel,” he warned.
By eating carcasses, the iconic birds perform a key role in the ecosystem as nature’s cleaners.
They face a long list of dangers — from collisions with power lines and lead poisoning to habitat loss and food and water shortages in various parts of the region.
But their chief threat is the contamination of carrion either with veterinary drugs, or with chemicals deliberately left on carcasses to kill wolves, jackals, and even feral dogs to protect livestock.
The nature authority fields mainly volunteer teams to protect vulture eggs in nests and has developed an elaborate way of removing and incubating eggs laid in captivity and feeding fledglings.
Its rangers help farmers to deposit the carcasses of farm animals by providing special receptacles.
But the authority says still more needs to be done.
A spokeswoman noted that the Environmental Protection Ministry’s Clean Fund had approved NIS 28 million ($7.8 million) for a special program in July last year, but that the money had not yet been paid.
“We know where the problems are and created a detailed plan for each area, including where to distribute food” to divert vultures from potential poison, she explained.
The nature authority has long campaigned for an amendment to the Wildlife Act to make prosecution easier and punishments far more severe for wildlife poisoning.
Dr. Yehoshua Shkedy, the authority’s outgoing chief scientist, has repeatedly called for reducing the use of poisonous insecticides, registering and regulating their ownership, and passing a law enabling authorities to arrest people suspected of poisoning wildlife.
At present, anyone can buy such poison and suspects can only be charged if they are caught in the act.
