Celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day in West Africa

06 September, 2025

A sign at Osun Osogbo Sacred Forest, Nigeria, promotes vulture conservation awareness. Photo courtesy of Akinleye Isaac Oyegbami.

IBCP thanks and congratulates all our friends, colleagues, and partners working to raise awareness of the value and plight of vultures around the world, especially in West Africa! In Nigeria, the Osogbo Bird Conservation Project continues its important work to educate people about vultures, including installing an informational board at the entrance of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Forest, which may be seen over 20,000 visitors who visit the Grove annually, thanks to Akinleye Isaac Oyegbami.

Akinleye Isaac Oyegbami stands with a newly installed sign promoting vulture conservation awareness at Osun Osogbo Sacred Forest, Nigeria. Photo courtesy of Akinleye Isaac Oyegbami.

In Togo, Yendoubouam Kourdjouak, Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba, and other members of the IBCP team have been monitoring vultures throughout the country since 2021, and these data will form the basis of a forthcoming publication. They have also worked with government officials and slaughterhouse staff to protect vultures at slaughterhouses from persecution by poachers seeking money from wildlife trade.

Residents in Sokodé, Togo, join the IBCP Togo team conducting vulture surveys. Photo by Yendboubouam Kourdjouak.

In Benin, Dr. Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra recently led the publication of a scientific article measuring the impacts of wildlife trade for the practice of voodoo practices and its impacts on vultures across West and Central Africa. Abiola has also joined colleagues at SOS Savane in their efforts to exchange information about and support vulture monitoring and conservation in northern Benin, and will soon travel to Chad to advise and support ongoing vulture research led by Constant Djekadjim Djekillamber.

Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba, Irene Di Lecce, Gill Radcliffe of The Raptors and Yendoubouam Kourdjouak conduct vulture and other raptor surveys in Mole National Park, Ghana. Photo courtesy of Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba.

IBCP vulture research also continues in Ghana, where vulture surveys in 2024 and 2025 will contribute to a forthcoming manuscript on vulture abundance, distribution, and conservation status, especially in Mole National Park. IBCP has also been pleased to support ongoing vulture research in Argentina.

Yendoubouam Kourdjouak counts vultures in Mole National Park, Ghana. Photo by Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba.

Vultures not only perform critical services to people and nature as scavengers, but have an irreplaceable role in human cultures the world over, including in religious faith and practices. For example, the latest newsletter of the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group featured a scientific publication on vultures in the Christian Old Testament. In the Zoroastrian faith, vultures also perform key services in “sky burials” of the dead. Vultures thus contribute not only to healthy ecosystems but to human cultural heritage all over the world.

A White-backed Vulture sits on a nest in Mole National Park, Ghana. Photo by Lin-Ernni Mikégraba Kaboumba.

Another example of vultures’ cultural importance is their being featured at the extraordinary monument of Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, a chapel completed in 1248 for the King of France, Louis IX, who is recognized as Saint Louis by the Catholic Church. One of the most beautiful and elaborate collections of stained glass of its age – nearly 800 years old – the building was tragically damaged during the French Revolution, but has since been restored and is now a major tourist attraction. In a representation of the story of Noah’s Ark at Sainte-Chappelle, vultures are pictured above the other animals on the right side of Noah, who is greeting the dove that has returned with a leaf to show that land and safety are near. Let’s honor and protect vultures as we would our own future!

At Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, vultures are pictured in a stained-glass representation of Noah’s Ark. Photo by Nico Arcilla.