This International Vulture Awareness Day, Wildlife ACT is inviting South Africa, and the world, to take part in the Vulture Bookmark Project, a free colouring campaign running from 5 to 30 September 2026. Choose a Vulture bookmark design, whether a ready-illustrated print to admire or a blank line-art design to colour in yourself, and download it at no cost. Enter your email address when you download, and a digital Vulture art print and a children's activity booklet will land in your inbox too, Wildlife ACT's way of saying thank you for taking part.
Why Vultures Matter
Vultures are nature's most efficient clean-up crew. They consume carcasses that would otherwise spread disease, preventing outbreaks that can affect wildlife, livestock, and people. Their digestive systems neutralise harmful pathogens such as anthrax and rabies, keeping ecosystems healthy in ways few other species can match.
Where Vultures thrive, disease risks stay low and nutrient cycles keep functioning as they should. When they decline, carcasses linger, disease spreads more easily, and less efficient scavengers such as feral dogs and rats move in to take their place, raising risks for people and wildlife alike.
South Africa is home to six Vulture species, and this year's bookmark designs celebrate them. In KwaZulu-Natal, Wildlife ACT has responded to close to 100 poisoning alerts since 2019.
Wildlife ACT's Work for Vultures
Poisoning remains one of the most significant threats facing Vultures in South Africa, alongside habitat loss and the decline of safe, reliable food sources. Wildlife ACT works to stabilise Vulture populations across KwaZulu-Natal and the Southern Drakensberg through a multipronged conservation programme. Field teams monitor nest sites, deploy GPS tracking units through Wildlife ACT Innovations, and run an emergency response network that decontaminates poisoning sites and treats and releases rehabilitated birds back into the wild. This work is guided by the Multi-Species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures and delivered in partnership with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, forming part of Project Vulture, the Zululand Vulture Project, and the Bearded Vulture Task Force.
Community Conservation Monitors extend this work into surrounding areas, engaging schools, livestock owners, and leadership to reduce belief-based use of Vulture parts. As obligate scavengers, Vultures clear carcasses before pathogens such as anthrax and botulism can spread, a role that makes their protection central to both ecosystem and public health across the region.
Additionally, Wildlife ACT supports and maintains Vulture Safe Feeding Sites, including the Mzimkulu Vulture Hide, that provide clean, toxin-free carcasses while allowing valuable monitoring data to be collected. In the Southern Drakensberg, our work centres on the region's last breeding population of the Bearded Vulture, alongside the Cape Vulture, both of which depend on the high cliffs and open grasslands found there.
Why International Vulture Awareness Day Exists
International Vulture Awareness Day was created to shine a light on the rapid decline of Vulture populations around the world. It is now marked on the first Saturday of September every year, in countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The day exists to rewrite a reputation these birds never deserved. Vultures are so often painted as sinister or unclean, when in truth they are one of the most ecologically valuable bird groups on the planet. International Vulture Awareness Day gives conservationists, schools, and supporters a shared moment to celebrate that value and rally attention behind it.
How to Take Part in the Vulture Bookmark Project
Getting involved is simple, and it makes a rewarding activity for a family or classroom:
Two Free Gifts for Every Participant
Enter your email address when you download your bookmark design, and Wildlife ACT will send a free digital Vulture art print and a children's activity booklet straight to your inbox alongside it. Both are yours to keep, print, and enjoy, whether you are colouring in a bookmark on your own or turning it into a family or classroom activity for International Vulture Awareness Day.
More Ways to Support and Celebrate Vultures This September
The Vulture Bookmark Project is one part of a much larger effort inside Wildlife ACT's Vulture Conservation Programme, which works year-round across Zululand and the Southern Drakensberg, monitoring nests, responding to poisoning incidents, and tracking Vultures using GPS technology through Wildlife ACT Innovations. Following Wildlife ACT on social media brings this work straight to your feed, from nest monitoring updates to poisoning response call-outs. Supporting the Vulture Conservation Programme directly funds this work, and joining the Endangered Species Volunteer Program puts hands-on conservation experience within reach for those who want to go further. Exploring the six Vulture species of South Africa on Wildlife ACT's website is a good next step for anyone who wants to learn more.
Take Part This September
Vultures do more for South Africa's ecosystems, livestock, and communities than almost any other bird, yet they remain among the most overlooked. The Vulture Bookmark Project gives everyone, of any age, anywhere, a simple way to change that, and a free Vulture art print and activity booklet to say thank you for joining in. Choose a design, download it, and turn a few quiet minutes into a small act of Vulture celebration this International Vulture Awareness Day.
