Critically Endangered vultures slaughtered after freak weather event

A violent overnight storm that brought down an iconic tree in Freetown, Sierra Leone, led to the massacre of 100 Critically Endangered Hooded Vultures.

The large Kapok tree (known locally as a 'cotton tree'), which is situated in the Central Business District of the capital city, is an important symbol associated with the return of the first re-settled Africans from western slavery in 1792, and has long been used as an overnight roost by large numbers of Hooded Vultures.

The tree was stripped of its boughs by high winds during a cyclone on 24 May 2023, causing roosting vultures to be left stranded on the ground.

Rain soaked, grounded vultures were consequently caught by hand, slaughtered and prepared for human consumption. An estimation of the number of birds involved was 100. The price of a cooked vulture in Freetown on 24 May 2023 was the Sierra Leone equivalent of US 80¢ – less than half the price of a fried chicken. Only one bird could be rescued before it was killed.

Approximately Hooded Vultures were opportunistically slaughtered in Freetown, Sierra Leone, after bad weather shook them from the tree they were roosting in (Peter Beesley).

As with other African vulture species, Hooded Vulture has suffered drastic declines throughout its range in recent years due to, among other reasons, deliberate and indirect poisoning events.

Ornithologists Musa Kimbo and Clive Barlow wrote: "To the best of our knowledge, the current report appears to be the first instance of an opportunistic mass killing of Hooded Vultures for human consumption.

"We suggest that public awareness campaigns are urgently required in schools and in the Sierra Leonean media (and elsewhere in West Africa) to communicate the important ecological and human health services that commensal Hooded Vultures provide in urban environments.

"Our fieldwork to establish a population trend for Hooded Vultures in Sierra Leone is self-funded. Additional support is needed to facilitate surveys at other regular feeding sites and to enable investigations into mythological attitudes towards cotton trees and vultures in other parts of Sierra Leone."