In South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a mass poisoning attack this week has left 123 threatened vultures dead and another 83 recovering with the aid of a veterinary team. On the morning of May 6, a team consisting of the South African National Parks (SANParks) rangers and staff from the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) found a carcass of an elephant laced with highly toxic pesticides in a remote part of the park. They had responded to an automated alert for suspicious activity. “This marks one of the largest vulture poisoning events in Southern Africa — and the most extensive coordinated response effort and rescues to date,” the EWT, a South African conservation organization, wrote in a joint press statement with SANParks. The critically endangered white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) was the most impacted, with 112 found dead at the scene. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, estimates the species has lost 81% of its population in just under 40 years. Another 20 cape vultures (Gyps coprotheres), a vulnerable species endemic to Southern Africa, and one lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos), an endangered bird with only about 6,500 adult living individuals today, also died. The six park rangers and two EWT officials who were the first to respond with first aid gave the vultures atropine, commonly used to treat pesticide poisoning, as well as activated charcoal and fluids to help absorb and dilute toxins. As of publication, veterinary teams are working to recover the 83 surviving birds. According to EWT, about half…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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