A  vulture restaurant is an undisturbed area where non-toxic, poison-free  meat and carcasses are provided for vultures and other scavengers. This supplementary feeding supports the vultures in times of food scarcity and when young birds fledge.

As well as providing a safe food source, vulture restaurants provide land owners with a clean and cost-effective way of disposing of waste and unwanted carcasses. Using vulture restaurants, farmers are contributing to conservation efforts and disposing of their waste in an environmentally-friendly way.

Vulture feeding projects like these restaurants have been implemented successfully internationally, with a region in Nepal that started to provide clean carcasses reporting a doubling of nesting pairs of vultures in just two years, according to Bird Conservation Nepal.

Farmers put out domestic livestock that are unfit for human consumption, and would otherwise have to be buried or burnt. For more information, the Endangered Wildlife Trust has put together a Guide to Vulture Restaurants.

Carcasses that have been euthanazed or treated with certain veterinary drugs or dips are poisonous to vultures and must be disposed of in an alternative way. Read more about accidental agricultural poisoning for guidance on safe feeding.

Vulture feeding sites can also play host to viewing hides, where photographers and members of the public can experience vultures first hand. As well as raising public awareness of the plight of the species’, these hides play an important role in eco-tourism and can generate revenue to support vulture feeding programmes.