What I originally intended to convey with this message is that we've recently published the attached short paper showing the link between the use of poison in ivory poaching and vulture mortality.  This threat has increased so rapidly over three years (2012-2014) that that it now accounts for one-third of all vulture poisonings recorded since 1970 (see attached paper for further details). This paper does not include all the elephant-related poisoning incidents that have happened in 2015.

Of course the poisoning threat does not end with scavengers and other birds of prey.  You only need to read work by Martin Odino on bird poisoning in Bunyala Rice Scheme in western Kenya and by Tiwonge Mzumara on the mass poisoning of Lillian's Lovebirds at waterholes in Malawi (see attached).  These are of course in the published literature, but I'm sure many of you know of other examples elsewhere.

So the point of this long email is to raise awareness among those of you who might not already know about the current scale of poisoning of across Africa.  Sadly, a number of the species poisoned are being harvested for food and are thus sold to unsuspecting customers.  And of course whenever waterholes are tainted with poisons MANY species are affected, including humans and their livestock.  This is no longer just an issue of a 'bunch of tree-huggers' trying to save wildlife, it is an issue of human welfare and environmental contamination, among others.  Please someone, save us from ourselves.

There are certainly a number of people and organisations that have been working tirelessly on poisoning in Africa.  I hope I speak for everyone involved that we would really appreciate your help to spread this message among your networks, but as importantly, among the people and communities that you interact with in your work, birding, or other travels. We need to educate people on what is happening so that we speak with one voice against this vice.

Sincerely,

Darcy