Combating the Use of Cyanide Poison in Ivory Poaching

Vulture poisoning in Sub-Saharan Africa and its implications for conservation planning: A systematic review

“…Clearly, the resolution of colossal implementation gaps is constrained by environmental, socio-economical, as well as legal and technical factors, such as inadequate and in some cases lack of skilled personnel and other resources, such as funding to support the required levels of law enforcement accompanied by stringent laws in support of vulture conservation, forensic field protocols and successful prosecution [ 12 ]. Consequently, the recommended actions do not meet the corresponding levels of support from the stakeholders.…”

“…As exemplar for a functional social capital [ 3 ], suggest establishment of trusted and legit organizational bodies, such as farmer association to serve commercial farmers to deal with poison use and secure their support into alternative and more effective livestock protection measures. Quality information communication and exchanges among the partners, particularly use of deterrent informer networks [ 12 ] and functional databases, such as African Wildlife Poison Database [ 20 ], can prove to be effective measures to support control of use of lethal poisons against vultures. Such interventions to be effective, they consistently require coherent multi-scale alliances among stakeholders.…”

“…Poisoning through agricultural chemicals, heavy metals, and veterinary pharmaceuticals from public provenance is reported to affect the health of vultures at sub-lethal levels, and high levels of toxicity result in high levels of vulture mortalities. For instance, poisoning incidences in respect to lead ammunition [ 10 ], cyanide [ 11 , 12 ], and myriad types of agricultural chemicals/pesticides [ [13] , [14] , [15] ] have been widely reported. Although electrocutions and collisions of vultures have also been growing concerns around vulture mortalities [ 14 ], poisoning remains the top cause among several stressors of the plummeting vulture populations in SSA, accounting for 62 % of vulture deaths [ 16 ].…”

“…The threat to humans and terrestrial carnivores could be through the herbivore carcasses laced with poisons, for instance Refs. [ 20 , 22 , 23 ], but also exposure to chemical contaminated run-off into rivers and wetlands [ 12 ]. Ironically, poisoning also directly threaten human health as poisoned vultures are supplied to unsuspecting consumers as a source of food or for other consumptive purposes [ 9 , 21 ].…”

“…Vulture killings through poisoning are under-reported by conservation stakeholders [ 9 ], partly because of limited surveillances by law enforcement agencies due to low investment levels in biodiversity conservation [ 36 , 37 ]. The other reasons for under-reporting include the secretive nature of illicit activities regarding vultures [ 35 , 38 , 39 ], absence of stringent laws [ 12 ], and stakeholder resistance to cooperate in conservation programs [ 40 ]. The poisons are cheap, easy to acquire and use, and can kill the victims silently, non-selectively and in large numbers [ 3 , 9 ].…”