Did you know that Laikipia experiences some of the highest rates of human-wildlife conflict in Kenya?

Over half of Laikipia’s farmers lose livestock to carnivores each year. In retaliation, some resort to lacing carcasses with toxic pesticides. Carcasses are known to attract a large number of scavengers, especially vultures, that arrive in large groups, only to die from the poisons meant for predators.

Today, on #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay, we recognize the vital role vultures play in maintaining healthy ecosystems. By removing organic waste and carcasses, vultures help control disease and keep environments clean. However, they are among the most endangered group of birds, with nine out of 11 African vulture species appearing on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

To address this crisis, The Peregrine Fund, alongside Lion Landscapes, has initiated the Co-existence Co-op in Laikipia. Through Coexistence Trainings, they teach communities how to build predator-proof bomas and the dangers of wildlife poisoning. To date, trainees of this program have intervened to successfully prevent 51 wildlife poisonings.

Dr Darcy Ogada, the Africa Program Director for The Peregrine Fund, first arrived at Mpala Research Centre in 2000. She later completed a Post-Doc on vulture declines and disease transmission at the Centre. That work helped lay the foundation for long-term monitoring and community engagement strategies used across Laikipia today.

Through training, outreach, and vulture population monitoring across Laikipia, the Peregrine Fund is advancing Mpala’s shared goal of reducing wildlife-conflict. Their work not only protects vultures, but also strengthens the broader ecological research and conservation network that Mpala is part of.

#InternationalVultureAwarenessDay #HumanWildlifeConflict #Coexistence