WCC 2016 Res 014 - Progress Report

Major activities to implement the resolution have been conducted by EWT, and other IUCN Members (listed above) and partners.

All activities are still on-going.

Major results include:

Capacity-building:
Conducted 13 Wildlife Poisoning Response Training workshops to 392 learners from Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa during 2019. Trainers trained in Kenya in 2016 and 2018 conducted another 37 training workshops reaching more than 1200 people from a range of sectors. We have also been invited to conduct the same training at key sites in Uganda, Cambodia and India in 2020.

Established training capacity in Africa to train Poison Sniffer Dogs at known Wildlife Poisoning Hotspots across the continent to assist people in both a preventative and responsive approach.

Convene stakeholders/Networking: convened a meeting of partners from South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya to discuss the implementation of the concept of Vulture Safe Zones at various key locations in these countries with a major focus to combat the impact of wildlife poisoning. At least four new Vulture Safe Zones were established in South Africa in 2019.

Education/Communication/Raising awareness: produced an awareness video product aimed at a range of audiences, including African governments, highlighting the plight of Africa's vultures and the impact of poisoning on these birds.

Field activities:
engaged in assessment and advising responsible authorities on appropriate preventative and responsive action in the Kruger National Park (South Africa), Etosha National Park (Namibia), Grumeti Game Reserve (Tanzania) and the KAZA-region (Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia) following a series of poisoning incidents with significant impact in these areas during 2019.

Policy influencing/advocacy: The EWT has three representatives on the National Preventing Poisoning to Wildlife Working Group of the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and participated in the second meeting of this group in Pretoria, South Africa in August 2019. Andre Botha, manager of the Vultures for Africa Programme did a presentation to provide a broad scope of Wildlife Poisoning and its impact on the environment and human health during the meeting. A National Lead Task Team was also established during this meeting to specifically focus on the impact of lead on the environment and wildlife in particular and the EWT is represented on this Team by Andre Botha and Lindy Thompson.

Policy influencing/advocacy: working with partners in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia to draft National Wildlife Poisoning Response Protocols for implementation by stakeholders in identified poisoning hotspots.

hosted a side-event at CITES CoP19 in Geneva on the 18th to support a greater focus on illegal trade in vultures and vultures parts in Africa, a significant number of birds killed for their parts are killed by means of poisoning. The motion from West Africa supported by the side-event was adopted by the CITES Plenary on the 20 August 2019 and vultures and the threats that affect them are now an item of focus on the CITES agenda and programme of work.

Scientific/technical activities: The African Wildlife Poisoning Database continues to capture and collate data from known wildlife poisoning incidents across the continent. Established in 2012, the database currently contains data of 451 poisoning incidents reflecting 15,087 mortalities of 48 wildlife and 4 domestic animal species; and launched a mobile phone App on the Survey123 platform of ArcGIS which fieldworkers can use to load data of incidents in the field.

Scientific/technical activities: supporting the work of the Center for Forensic Science and Research in Pennsylvania, USA who is developing a simplified system for the collection of toxicological samples in the field that will exclude any biological material and therefore the need for permits to ship samples between countries. This will go a long way in simplifying the process of sample analysis in Africa where many countries do not have the capacity to analyse samples. We are also looking into viable options for in-the-field testing which will assist with rapid identification of substance used and appropriate treatment of poisoning victims that are found alive.

Establishing a growing network of skilled, informed and prepared stakeholders that are able to act both preventatively and respond rapidly to wildlife poisoning incidents when they occur across 10 countries in east and southern Africa and have acquired additional resources to expand this capacity into other areas in Africa and known hotspots in areas that have not yet been reached in target countries such as Mozambique, Uganda and possibly Rwanda. As a result of the success of our work in Africa, EWT has also been invited to present training in Cambodia and Assam, India in 2020. Successful implementation of Wildlife Poisoning Response Protocols in Zululand, South Africa, The Luangwa Valley in Zambia and in Kenya has lead to an increased awareness and more rapid response to poisoning incident leading to reduced mortalities and an increase in the number of animals that can be successfully treated and released.