Kenya sanctuaries struggle to save 'birds of prey' from extinction

Simon Thomsett tentatively removes a pink bandage from the wing of an injured bateleur, a short-tailed eagle from the African savannah, where birds of prey are increasingly at risk of extinction.

"There is still a long way to go before healing," Thomsett explains as he lifts the bird's dark feathers and examines the injury.

"It was injured in the Maasai Mara National Park, but we don't know how," says the 62-year-old vet who runs the Soysambu Raptor Centre in central Kenya.

The 18-month-old eagle, with a distinctive red beak and black body, was brought to the shelter five months ago, where around 30 other injured raptors keep it company.

The sanctuary in the Soysambu reserve is one of the few places where the birds of prey are safe.

A study published in January by The Peregrine Fund, a US-based non-profit organisation, found that the raptor population has fallen by 90 percent on the continent over the last 40 years.

"You can go down a road today for maybe 200 kilometres and not see a single raptor," Thomsett says.

"If you did that 20 years ago, you would have seen a hundred."

The reasons for the decline are multifold.

Vultures and other scavengers have died from eating livestock remains falling victim to a practice adopted by cattle farmers who poison carcasses to deter lions from approaching their herds.

Deforestation also plays a part as does the proliferation of power lines across Africa that prove fatal for birds who perch on them to hunt prey.

Dozens of giant electricity pylons, many installed in recent years, scar the Soysambu reserve.

Some species are shrinking so fast that conservation initiatives will not yield results, says Thomsett.

'Image problem'

Furthermore, although raptors can live for up to 50 years, they only lay one egg every 12 months and do not produce a lot of offspring.

Kenya, a major tourism destination famed for its wildlife, is focusing on efforts to preserve popular draws such as lions or elephants, but far less money is spent on the protection of raptors.

"There are so many things that can be done, but we definitely need the full assistance, permissions and finances from the government," Thomsett says.

The Kenya Wildlife Service and the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.

Birds of prey also suffer from an image problem.

"Vultures are seen as ugly, unsightly, dirty and disgusting," says Shiv Kapila, who manages a bird sanctuary at Naivasha National Park which lies around 50 kilometres from the Soysambu reserve.

Some communities even go so far as to kill species such as owls and lappet-faced vultures, believing they bring bad luck.

"We have to convince people that not only are they absolutely gorgeous but also incredibly useful as well," he says, as long-legged Ruppell's vultures and pink-headed lappet-faced vultures rub shoulders inside a cage.