The biannual meeting of the Bearded Vulture Task Force took place in Semonkong in Lesotho earlier this month. The Bearded Vulture Task Force is a working group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Bird of Prey Programme, and brings together delegates from Lesotho and South Africa in order to discuss, implement and monitor the actions identified in the Bearded Vulture Biodiversity Management Plan.

At this month’s meeting,  as well as addressing the continuation and development of ongoing monitoring, food supplementation and public awareness projects, members discussed the looming threat posed by wind farm development , and the ongoing concern of wide spread losses of vultures in Africa due to poisoning.

Andre Botha (Manager of Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Bird of Prey Programme and Co-Chair of the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group) participated in The International workshop on African Vultures and Poisoning which was held in Málaga, Spain in April. The conference resulted in a number of important conclusions for vulture conservation and the struggle against poisoning, which Andre presented to members of the Bearded Vulture Task Force at the conference.

Watch this space for further conclusions and press releases resulting from the meeting.