Vultures: circling calamity

Across Africa, vulture populations are in freefall. The main cause of this catastrophic decline is poisoning, both deliberate and incidental. Half of all vulture species in Africa are now endangered and vultures are one of the fastest declining groups of animals worldwide, with numbers set to fall by another 70 to 97 percent in the next 50 years. As an indispensable part of complex ecosystems, this is a tragedy on a colossal scale.

Charlie travelled across Africa to capture the vultures’ story – a grim tale set to end in extinction, followed by ecological and economic disaster, if poisoning and poaching continues.