Newsletter / Blog
2012-03-06 Sad news – Vultures on the verge of extinction in Nigeria.
Five of the six
species of vultures of Africa
are no longer seen in Nigeria.
The hooded Vulture can still be found in parts of the country, but there is a
marked decline in numbers. The only Vultures seen during a recent survey were Vultures
being sold in markets. Live Vultures sell for 20,000 Naira, while a dead one
goes for 7,000 Naira in local markets. These Vultures are thought to have been imported
from Chad, Niger and Benin.
Interestingly, most
Nigerian communities have ancient taboos, which forbid the killing or eating of
Vultures. In most parts of the north of Nigeria, it is forbidden to eat Vultures
and the Vulture is seen as a ‘demonic bird’. A Yoruba incantation states ‘It is
forbidden to kill a Vulture. It’s forbidden to use Vultures for rituals’.
According to
Philip Hall - “There is evidence of widespread killing of Vultures
throughout Nigeria for the
Juju trade, and no more so than in the South West where in a market in Ibadan alone, there were
260 Vulture carcasses in the Juju market. Vultures are not usually
killed for meat, but entirely for their use in the Juju trade.”
Unfortunately nothing
is being done right now to address this sad situation.
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