06/09/2025
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day, celebrating vultures and the vital role they play in healthy landscapes.
At the C4C Fund, we work across Zambia through the Zambian Vulture Conservation Programme, a partnership with Endangered Wildlife Trust () and BirdWatch Zambia (), with Leibniz-IZW () on select workstreams, in close collaboration with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW).
Since 2021 we’ve tagged 47 vultures, including White-backed, White-headed, Lappet-faced & Hooded Vultures, across major wildlife areas. Tracking maps space use, flyways/corridors, and key feeding & breeding areas. We share results at PAOC, IOC & the European Vulture Conference.
Key collaborators include North Carolina Zoo (), The Peregrine Fund (), Conservation South Luangwa (), Zambian Carnivore Programme (), African Parks (), Frankfurt Zoological Society (.zoological.society), Conservation Lower Zambezi ().
Conservation is also about people. With Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust (), we ran vulture workshops for 1,400+ pupils and produced a special “Kalata” (5,000 copies across Western, Central & Eastern Provinces). Together with Nsanga Conservation Zambia () and the Chitungulu Foundation (.chitungulu), children in Chitungulu Chiefdom painted vulture murals at three schools, building pride in these critical scavengers.
On policy, we’re working with BirdWatch Zambia and authorities to strengthen pesticide legislation and prevent poisoning events, one of the biggest threats to Africa’s vultures.
None of this happens without partnership. Thank you to DNPW and every organisation and community helping keep Zambia’s skies alive because vultures keep ecosystems healthy, and healthy ecosystems sustain us all. 🌍
