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Nearly 1,000 vultures have died in Guinea-Bissau since February of this year, many of them critically endangered hooded vultures, according to a statement released by the Vulture Conservation Foundation. Local authorities reported that the vultures “were bubbling from their beaks while dying” and “seemed to search for water,” the press release notes, suggesting that the birds may have been poisoned.
“This is, without any doubt, the worst case of vulture mortality in recent history that we know of,” says José Tavares, director of the Vulture Conservation Foundation, in remarks to Gizmodo. “The hooded vulture is a critically endangered species and while rarer in eastern and southern Africa, western Africa is its stronghold,” Tavares tells Mongabay. “Losing so many birds in its stronghold is a major blow to the species.”
The dead vultures were found in clusters on the outskirts of towns, mainly around Bafatá and ...
