When
Jenyva Turner, Lead Animal Keeper in African Rift Valley, heard that there was
an opportunity for her to travel to Africa to talk to the people of Botswana
about vulture conservation, she knew she needed to go. Vultures have been her
focus and a passion for several years. She was the champion of the Zoo’s Cape
vulture Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) project from 2009-2013 and, with your
quarter votes, raised $30,000 for vulture conservation!
Q4C
funds were used to support VulPro, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that
has identified an urgent need to protect threatened vulture species and create
a partnership between the southern African countries of Botswana, South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Namibia. Vultures do not
acknowledge international borders, flying between countries in search of food
and roosting and nesting areas. Therefore, these countries need to work
together to address several issues, especially poisonings, that are affecting
their decline – this is how the “Flight for the Plight of Vultures” campaign
was born.
With
generous help from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s docents and support from the Zoo,
Turner joined Kerri Wolter of VulPro in a week-long awareness campaign that
traveled around Botswana, visiting the key communities of Kasane, Maun, Ghanzi,
Gaborone, and spreading the word about the plight of vultures today.
“There
are not many things that I prefer doing more than talking to people about
vultures!” Turner said. “However, the audience that I faced in Botswana was
vastly different from the guests I speak to in the U.S.”
Turner
and Wolter spoke to members of the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National
Parks, Department of Tourism, local police, local safari guides, farmers,
members of various NGO conservation organizations and her favorite group to
speak with - school children.
“In
all, we spoke with 400 people,” Turner said. “Our focus was to help people
understand how important vultures are in our ecosystems and how they personally
are benefited by the presence of vultures. We also talked a great deal about
how we all need to help protect
vultures, no matter where we live – Colorado or Africa.”
She
reported that the feedback they received was mostly positive.
“There
is still a lot of work that needs to be done to educate people all over the world,”
Turner said. “We need to work together to find solutions for helping not just
vultures, but all wildlife.”
As
Turner was leaving Africa, several people expressed a desire to serve on a task
force to address issues that wildlife face, which made her hopeful about the
future of African vultures. “I
have been asked to return to Botswana by Birdlife Botswana to continue visiting
schools and talking with children and educating the next generation of
responsible stewards of our earth,” Turner said. “I would also like to continue
developing the Zoo’s partnership with VulPro to expand our educational reach in
South Africa. After all - together we can make a difference!”
Posts
