The Karoo Vulture Safe Zone is a 2,300,000 ha area comprised of a mosaic of livestock farmers, game breeders, reserves, surrounded by large-scale agriculture and communal lands.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust now has 736,520 hectares committed to becoming ‘vulture safe’ within its Vulture Safe Zone in the Karoo’s heartland. This represents the completion of 95 surveys with landowners, with more than 133 properties assessed, given that some landowners hold more than one property. With great pride, in August 2021, we were able to classify the first of these properties as completely Vulture Safe within the Karoo landscape. This means that all energy infrastructure on the property has no threat to birds, reservoirs are covered and do not pose a drowning threat to wildlife especially vultures, there are no poisons on the property – more specifically those that are used for predator control, and the landowners do not hunt or only use lead free ammunition, which means that there is no chance of lead poisoning on the property. Although this is only one property, as the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone grows and more landowners commit and eventually, become, vulture safe, the area will ultimately be a safe haven for not only the vulture species we work tirelessly to conserve, but also for a wide variety of wildlife across the Karoo.

Not only do landowners play an integral role in the preservation of the environment for species, but the general public has a responsibility too. For this reason, we hosted the Battle of the Bullets lead-free drive in March 2022. The day was centred on spreading awareness of lead-free ammunition. We did not aim to be ‘anti lead’, but rather to open a conversation with hunters, outfitters, ammunition suppliers and manufacturers, conservation organizations, and others involved in the ammunition industry to showcase the availability of lead-free ammunitions that are currently on the market and educate each other about the need for healthier options – for humans and wildlife.

The Karoo Vulture Safe Zone team prides itself on proactive mitigation of threats, on individual properties and across the landscape through innovative thinking and community engagement.