The Value of Vultures—Why They Are Vital to Ecosystems

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz.

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Speaker 2: When Elsy s world, I'm Marco went.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.

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Speaker 1: This podcast is a production.

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Speaker 3: Of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Bark.

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Speaker 1: Uh Marco, you okay over there?

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, Rick, I feel like jumping on my seat. I mean, is it that obvious?

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Speaker 3: Yes, I can say just looking across the table here, you are very excited. It wouldn't be because we're finally focusing on a type of bird species for an episode, would it.

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Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, I'm totally man. I mean, I'm vibrating right now. I have been.

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Speaker 4: Recently waiting all season for a bird episode, and it's fine, really here and even better this past Saturday, it was International Vulture Awareness Day, So what better topic than that amazing group of birds that we call vultures?

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Speaker 1: Right right, all right, right, okay, okay, I feel you man.

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Speaker 3: I'm excited too, because you know, I love some vultures inside scoop when I first and I was, I have to work with with a turkey vulture.

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Speaker 1: But we'll get to that.

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Speaker 3: I just want to take a moment to bring our audience into the flock. If you will, these fun feathered friends.

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Speaker 4: Oh that's a good idea, bonus on the fun feathered Friends line, everything like that.

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Speaker 2: But then, what did you have in mind?

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Speaker 3: Well, I want to make sure our listeners don't feel how should I say this less than enthused about discussing a bird that's scavenges amongst dead animals. I mean, for instance, when I asked my friend Kristen what she thought when I mentioned vultures, she said she thinks of them as less cute trash pandas of the sky, which I mean that was a pretty good description, I guess, but either way. She also said it made her think of like the scary bad death scenes or near death scenes in movies.

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Speaker 2: Really, I mean people really think that?

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Speaker 3: Well, yes, I mean I think some people do. But if we do this right, maybe our listeners will fall in love with these incredibly important and intelligent birds.

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Speaker 4: Well that's good news because I know that those listeners out there who maybe don't have a great opinion on vultures will definitely like them.

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Speaker 2: After listening to this episode, all.

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Speaker 1: That sounds awesome. So what are you thinking?

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, man, I think to start things off, I've lined up someone who is a fellow bird lover like I am, has a lot of vulture experience and has even traveled to Africa to help with vulture conservation.

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Speaker 5: I am Jenna Stallard. I am bird manager and wildlife care at the Santaga Zoosa Firebork.

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Speaker 4: Jenna, I'm so excited to be doing this with you. We've known each other for so many years now in the bird department, and I know you're a parrot girl. But we can talk about vultures today, right, Thanks again for taking the time and sharing your passion about these amazing birds.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you, Marco. I'm super excited to be here and stoked to be talking to you guys about vultures today.

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Speaker 4: So our guests, now, we're at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park today. Different kind of species you can see in the park and in the zoo. But in my opinion, no disrespect to my brothers and sisters at the zoo. But when I'm thinking vultures, I really want to be here at the Safari Park. Can you describe for our listeners today, like, what are some of the vultures that guests can experience here at the Safari Park.

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, So we have multiple vultures here at the Safari Park. Old World and New World vultures, and some that first come to mind as the California condor. Of course they are a legacy here, but we also have many other vultures. So some of the smaller vultures, we have hooded and Egyptian vultures. We have cape vultures, rupels vultures, and I feel like I'm missing one, which.

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Speaker 1: They're really cool too, right, they look like.

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Speaker 5: They're wearing pants. Yes, that is what I was thinking about.

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Speaker 3: I want to ask real quick just for clarification, especially for our audience.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned New World and Old World.

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Speaker 3: Can you offer definition to that so people understand what you're talking about.

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Speaker 5: Yes, I can. So a New World is in the Americas and the Ribbean, whereas the Old World is Europe and Asia.

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Speaker 1: And Africa too, right, Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, which is our primary bucket.

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Speaker 4: The best for last, But you know, our guests can see those variations in the body and when you look at the California cond or, a little different foot structure right in the beat. But when you see our old world vultures Europe, Asia, Africa, we're seeing them their ancestors really more from raptors like eagles, hawks, falcons, right, so you can see a curved beak, right, a little more curvature of their foot and their talent, which I think is awesome, right, I mean, you and I know vultures are. They're amazing and growing up. For me, you guys, it was the Jungle Book. Do you guys remember the vultures in the Jungle Book?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 4: Yes, you know they were great, But honestly, the critique I had was, vultures are always depicted like they're not smart, they're dirty, they're not so.

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Speaker 3: Right, Okay, But in all fairness, now, in a jungle book, they did befriend Mowgli at least, right, they didn't try to pick on them too much.

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Speaker 1: Eventually they came around and they helped out, you know, fighting off share cons. True, that's probably the best.

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Speaker 5: In a very dark moment the story.

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Speaker 1: But yet yeah, right, So.

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Speaker 3: With that being said, then understanding what the general culture of our society tends to depict vultures as I would love to ask you right off the bat, as someone who spent a lot of time working with birds, you've done a lot of work with vultures around the world. Essentially from your perspective, what would be one of the myths or misunderstandings our guests might have a vultures when they're coming to the safari park or down to the zoo.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think we kind of hit on a couple of them where people think that maybe they're ugly or they're mean, which is not the case at all, And they have fantastic personalities that you get to know as you work with them. So I'm glad that we can focus on them. But I think one of the other things is that you know they're in movies and TV shows that maybe they're going after things that haven't died yet, all right, right, So vultures. You can tell that they are vulture based on the fact that they don't have feathers on their head and their necks so that they can eat carry on, which is animals that have already passed away, and that helps keep them clean. And with that, people think that maybe they're out there circling and waiting for something to die so that they can eat it. But that is not the case. Vultures don't do that. They don't seek out things that are looking sick. They go after the things that have already passed. And they're actually a huge help that way, because there are little cleanup crew.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and actually I want to ask real quickly then too, that circling behavior, that classic thing, and we see in the movies that, oh, that person's about to die in the desert, suddenly these birds are circling. Reality is they only do that when they spot and or smell something that has passed.

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Speaker 1: So there are some species that can.

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Speaker 3: Smell carry on or an animal that's passed away, because obviously it starts to get stinky.

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Speaker 1: But there's others that use only vision. Is that correct?

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Speaker 5: That is correct. I know that turkey vultures have one of the best sense of smell among all the vultures, but some do rely more specifically on their site.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, totally.

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Speaker 4: I mean you and I know, like turkey vilt's like a broadening piece of meat, you know, from ment to piece of meter or if you want to use ten miles away. It's incredible, it's interesting. Those different variations in adaptability for these.

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Speaker 2: Birds, for sure.

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Speaker 5: And I just noticed actually just getting back from South Africa, seeing the mostly cape vultures in the area that we were listening and hearing the calls of the other vultures at a feed, and all of those vocalizations also bringing them to the site.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Jenna, I definitely want to ask you about that.

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Speaker 4: I mean, in case our listeners don't know, we do a lot of conservation work with vultures in California, condor hooded vultures, Egyptians, and so many other African species, but there's also a lot of collaborative work, right, I mean, there are a lot of stories of us with many species here at the Safari Park and at the zoo with our partners out in Africa. But I'm really excited about this one, you guys, because we have this really unique relationship with this partner called Volpro. Now, this is a South African vulture conservation organization and they do a really great job. Their mission is to protect African cultures through collaborating and innovating, not only rehabilitating these injured birds that they find out there for re release, but also helping non releasable vultures by creating this essential breeding program. And it doesn't stop there, you guys, many of these release candidates actually have GPS transmitters. This way we can learn a lot more about these essential scavengers through their lifetime, giving us more knowledge and this bird's eye view of the hardships that a lot of these birds face out in Africa.

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Speaker 2: Jenna, can you speak a.

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Speaker 4: Little bit about our time with volpro and how it all got started.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So we've been working with Volpro since twenty seventeen, and it all started because we breed a lot of vultures here at the Safari Park and so we do a lot of incubation and chick rearing for those species and Volpro wanted to start doing a lot more of that, so they started getting incubators. It was started by yeah, Carrie Ca Carrie Walter, Yeah, and she started a rehab facility in South Africa and their mission is to protect African vultures through collaboration and innovation. So they get a lot of rehab birds there. But with those rehab birds, many are amputations or they can't be released back into the wild, so they allow them to breed at the site and then those chicks are then released back out into the wild to help bring more birds back into the population because they are anywhere from a vulnerable species to a critically endangered species, all the types that she has on her property. So getting those incubators, getting her set up for incubation, our partnership we go over every June when they have packed incubators. I think when we went this year there was like thirty five eggs.

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Speaker 1: Wow, it was a lot.

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Speaker 5: I feel like we had six in one incubator.

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Speaker 2: In each incubator.

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Speaker 5: It was like to compare here at the park condors one egg to one incubator, so we don't ever have that many eggs at one time. And when you are doing incubation work, you do notice a lot of things with the embryo, with the chicken stide. Sometimes they become malpositions, sometimes they have issues hatching out. And we've done so much of that breeding here that we've experienced it and we kind of know the proper ways to go about handling it to have a healthy check and to minimize any losses. So we have gone every June to give Carrie a break, help her with her incubation. More and train her and her staff. She is amazing, she does incredible work, but she's trying to pass that information onto her team as well, so we want to go and help her during that time, and she gets the weirdest cases and malpositions that I've ever seen. So it's really a learning experience for us because there's some situations that she's had that we've never had as well.

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Speaker 1: There's so much unpack with what you just said.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to give a running list of my head and I want to ask about that, and I want to ask about that, and I want to ask about that. But I think, first of all, I love how you wrap that up in the sense that it's a collaboration. We have done so much work in incubation and raising birds in our park that that not is assisting in helping her and her efforts and saving these birds. But then also you're saying while you're there dealing with all this stuff, you're still learning too, And there's so much value in understanding how collaborations aren't just one sided. You know, there's a shared goal, but everyone gets to grow and learn and then the end result is we do better for the birds.

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Speaker 1: So that's awesome. But what I want to go back to is, I guess the first part of what you said, why are these birds that she is breeding, why are they endangered? Why are they threatened?

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Speaker 3: What's happening to these wild populations that there is such a need for her to step in and for us to step in and go we need to make more and we need to get them back out in the wild to keep the ecosystem balanced.

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Speaker 5: Yeah. Absolutely, So there's multiple reasons, but one of the big ones is poisonings. So here in the States, it's lead poisoning for condors. If a hunter uses lead ammunition, it spreads throughout that kill and when they eat it, they then get lead poisoning. Same thing in Africa, but also with the poaching that takes place there. Poachers can specifically poison a kill, whether it be an elephant or a rhino, and when a huge group of vultures come to that kill, it can take out an entire colony in one setting. And the reason they do that is because the rangers look for the vultures in the sky is a sign for a kill and they can go to that spot. So for the rangers they're looking for that the poachers know that, so they will poison the kill so that the vultures aren't coming back, they're passing. And again you can lose one hundred birds with one kill, so that's a big reason and is affecting birds throughout all of Africa. Also, there's a lot of collisions with power lines, so when we were at Volpro, we had quite a few birds that came in with broken wings and had to be amputated, so that was also a big problem there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it really speaks to the important work that Carrie and our team are doing a Volpro as well.

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Speaker 2: I give these snaps to.

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Speaker 4: The Bird Department for all the amazing work you guys. I mean, granted, I'm a little biased.

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Speaker 2: I know, I know everyone's their eyes right now driving, but focus on the road, you guys.

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Speaker 4: But seriously, the Bird Department here at the Safari Park and of course at the San Diego Zoo, They've done so much or these conservation projects. I'm more behavior orient in my background, but I when joining the Bird Department, Jenna and you and the team like watching everything that you guys doe with incubation is incredible and some of these like unique moments. There was a day, you and I there was a roupels ultu in an egg that you were waiting for it to pit. And I bring that up because can you talk about two words that I want kids to really understand.

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Speaker 2: You have to get the science of it.

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Speaker 4: But the malpositioning, because that was a little bit of an issue with this chick and also pipping.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk about that really quick?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.

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Speaker 5: So mal positioning is when the embryo isn't in the perfect position to hatch out. So there's a certain position which would be really challenging to probably explain right right without showing you, But think of it as you have the big side of the egg and you have the pointy side of the egg, and generally the beak should always be going to the big side of the egg because there's a pocketive air there and it will internally pit, meaning that it's a little bit equal puncture through the internet brain so they can take that big deep breath and then it will break through the shell and externally pit before it hatches out. So when it's malposition it's unable to do that successfully. So if it's beak is at the pointy end, there's no air down there for it to breathe and then eventually break out. So sometimes we'll not make it past that point. But it could also be on the right side but have a leg or a wing or something over its beak or head so that it's unable to break through.

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Speaker 4: Well, as Rick was mentioning, you know, we've learned this with our experiences here at this safar. I walk over what fifty years of conservation projects, and people know of our condur project, but there's a lot of work with the African and also want to point out the Easiatic species too.

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Speaker 2: Rick.

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Speaker 4: You were asking what are these issues vultures are having and you mentioned lead poisoning, right, Jenna, with California condors, our African vulture species getting toxins and poison you know, because of poaching, but also we have our species out and Asia two have been effected for different reasons using a certain drug I'm probably gonna inspronounce leuthenic actually that was used for cattle and cows, right, But then those vultures eating that particular animal, ingesting that chemical drastically drop that population, right.

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Speaker 2: So it really speaks to that awesome.

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Speaker 4: Work that we're doing here at the park and how guests are connected to right, Yeah, for sure.

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Speaker 5: And I missed a couple that I'm thinking of as we're going, which is another It's because vultures go after things that are dead a lot of the time. If you get a roadkill, you hit a deer or another animal on the road, they might go after that and then also have a collision with a vehicle, which is another cause. And there are some areas where people like to use the body parts too. There's superstitions around the body parts for vultures, it specifically to the brains and the eyes, and they think it establishes good luck, so forecasting like the outcome of a soccer game or a lottery like. They think it will bring them luck and winning. So that's another one that affects them, but we don't hear as much about it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, no wildlife trafficking. We had an episode with Lori and the Tiger Team. We hit upon it a little bit. Even animal parts mentioning too, is part of wildlife trafficing a feather I brought that up in the past before. When you travel you didn't know where these feathers are being procured from, right, So you have to really think about what you're purchasing out there in the world, right.

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Speaker 5: Yes, we have to be very aware.

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Speaker 3: We've kind of talked about the different species New World, Old World and where they can be found. The immense amount of time the Safari Park has put into understanding the proper care. How that translates in when you head over to Africa and other people on our team head over there to help with volpro How we're learning more when we're out there. We've talked about some of the challenges they're facing in the wild, but one thing we haven't talked about yet, and this is probably one of my favorite parts about vultures is why are they important to the environment?

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Speaker 1: Why do we need them around?

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Speaker 3: We often have people show up they want to see the tiger, the lion, the elephants, the rhinos because they're big and they're fascinating, and they'll bypass the vultures. But from our world of looking at the whole health of all the environment, they're really important. Jenna, cause you shed a little light on why vultures are so important to the environment, why people should care.

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Speaker 5: Vultures, I'm sure you've heard it, are nature's cleanup crew, so they will clean up carcasses after an animal dies, but amongst those animals is disease, and those disease can be spread to us or other animals. But vultures are very unique because they have a more corrosive acid, stronger than any other animal or bird, so that when they eat the infected carcass that have that dangerous bacteria, that acid kills those bacteria and it then doesn't hurt the vulture. So this protects other species of wildlife, but it also includes us and prevents us from getting these diseases.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, It's one thing I always like to say to kids. It's like, you know, they can eat all this nasty disease bad stuff, and all that comes out the other side is bird poop y, you know, and it's perfectly okay, right, totally fine. Yeah, And I love that you started that with their Nature's Cleanup crew. Another analogy I love to share with kids sometimes is imagine if you took your trash out to the curb once a week for trash Day, but no trash truck came by, and the next week you did the same thing next week and all your neighbors what would happen.

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Speaker 1: To your neighborhood?

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Speaker 3: What would it be like of weeks and weeks and weeks of all this stuff just sitting out there, and let's say a rainstorm comes and now starts to wash some of this into our waterways where we get our fresh water from. What would happen? It's exactly the same of the vultures. They take care of these diseases that sometimes could get into our food or our water sources, could easily affect human populations, and these birds make it.

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Speaker 1: Go away just by having a snack, just by eating what they're supposed to eat. So I think it's pretty cool.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't even know how we would survive without vultures. And I don't even want to think about the smell.

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Speaker 3: Good thing.

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Speaker 4: We don't have smell of this, right, But that's a fun point, all those like myths and misconceptions that people think. I remember when I first started working with vultures, and my Mom's like me, oh, those animals are disease rid and.

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Speaker 2: They're dirty, but but they're not, right.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I mean, yeah, so the clean up croup, but they're actually remarkably clean animals, right. I mean, Early Jenny, you're in the bald head and the bald neck. That's for an adaptation, right, they are going inside of the carcass and pulling out all those yummies. Right, But bald is beautiful, right, and they are adaptable, sure is.

00:19:10
Speaker 5: And you know, there are twenty three vulture species in the world and at least one type of vulture is found on every continent except Australian an Arctic gas so fourteen of those twenty three are considered threatened or endangered. So I mean just that alone, you can kind of see like they're everywhere and they're very much needed.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, the colors too, right that the variability on guess the king vulture, You guys should look at that and talk about a beautiful bird and or you were talking about the acid in the stomach for all these species, so that one bearded vulture of the line, and guy are fund in Europe beautiful species. Eighty percent of their diet is bones. They're literally just swallowing bone.

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Speaker 2: It's dissolving the second it goes down their throat.

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Speaker 4: They are incredible in that regard, and guests can appreciate these experiences right with vultures when they come in the safari park, right, Oh can ASTI, what are your favorite spots for the park, Like if you were a guests right and they come up to you, Jinna Jenna, I really want to check out the vultures.

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Speaker 2: Where would you say they go?

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Speaker 5: Well, I mean first obviously condo right right and have a beautiful habitat. But I would also say hoodeds which are more like in the Heart of Africa next to our okopy and there is also an Egyptian vulture in there, and sometimes we're able to put an oscar j egg and things in there, and you can see how the Egyptian vulture uses a rock as a tool to break it open and eat the eggs. So I always love that when we're able to give them those and show that to the guests and can see how these birds can use tools. But I would also say, for sure you have to ride the tram and see we have cakes and rup bowls and lap it face vultures. Yeah, along the tram across from our South Africa habitat, Big Field Habitat. It's a huge beautiful habitat for these birds and it's aspiring. And when we do have our International Vulture Awareness Days and we celebrate our hubs here for our savannah which takes place. Actually this month, they will put out a full carcass for them to actually feed like they went naturally in the wild. And we have our Wildlifecare specialists in front of the habitat and able to like talk to everybody on the trams they go by, So it's it's really cool when you're able to catch those events as well.

00:21:17
Speaker 3: I want to ask you because I personally know from working with vultures, but I want to get it from you because I think you probably have a lot more experience than I do to talk about their personalities a little bit. You know, when you're telling people go up to condors, go over here to Heart of Africa, go on the tram ride, I want people to stop long enough to not just look at the bird, but to start look at how they're either interacting with each other or the other species that they might be sharing the habitat with, because they do have these individual personalities. And that's something Mark when I've talked about a couple times with different species, and I think for some people, you know, it's all yeah, sure, tigers have different personalities, their guerrillas have different personal Vultures do too. There's like a whole social thing going on. When you spend enough time watching them, you can see how they interact. What's been your experience with the characteristics and the different personalities.

00:22:04
Speaker 5: Of vultures, Well, they're all unique, and the condors for sure, if you go up there, there's a sign specifically for every individual in that habitat. And I think the oldest female in there is probably like most fun for me to watch because she sure like pushes the other birds around and you know, has a very big personality. And if you're able to do a you know behind the scenes where you get to feed them, you get to see them all come down and eat and kind of the hierarchies amongst them kind.

00:22:31
Speaker 1: Of really show through.

00:22:33
Speaker 5: But then also like we have one male Egyptian vulture who I think was a hand raised bird that came to us and he's super friendly and he comes up and he wants to walk with you, and he likes to peck at your shoes, and so you just you see all the uniqueness. Whereas you look at the lap at face vultures and they're just they're like gangsters. They're like so tough, and the way they walk they're like strut and not their wings out, and they look like they want to kick your butt. So it's you know, they're all just very, very different. We've lived and learned here with all the chicks that we've raised, and we've changed how we've done things and how we do chick rearing and have a mentor and puppet rearing so that they don't get imprinted, which means like get used to people and want to be around them, because then when they get older, they tend to be more challenging. But we didn't know that necessarily in the beginning. So we do have a couple of vultures who are a little bit more curious and not afraid and want to come up and mess with your rake or mess with whatever you have. That can be a little bit more challenging because they're not little anymore. They're very large and they can absolutely hurt you. So you just have to be more cautious around those individuals and just be aware of the different dynamics and the different personalities and make sure you're always making safe choices.

00:23:46
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

00:23:46
Speaker 1: That's awesome.

00:23:47
Speaker 4: I love that you brought up Einstein the Egyptian vulture. By the way, this season referring to you guys. But also I wanted to know, because you talked about it briefly, that behavior that Egyptian vultures too.

00:23:57
Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about that for a second. The tool.

00:24:00
Speaker 4: Last episode we talked about gorillas, Yeah, and uh Franke and Moro pussing a button. But I want guests to know it's not just some ammals using tools. You guys, there's a volts or that uses a tool, JENNI speak about this.

00:24:11
Speaker 5: So the Egyptian vultures use rocks or stones to break open eggs. So we'll give them an ostrich egg and provide them with different sized rocks, and you'll see them go through and they might use a small one and be like, Nope, this doesn't work on one, Like try to go for the biggest one. Nope, that one's too heavy, This one doesn't work. And then like pick the best tool for them. And then they yeah, sit there and they just hit it as hard as they can and if it doesn't crack, they pick it up, they do it again. They continue going until it's fully cracked and broken and they can break it apart.

00:24:41
Speaker 3: Am I correct to the visual I have in my head from seeing this, I think probably in a documentary. It's not just like they hold the rock in their mouth and like they're tapping in hammering. It's like they swing it up high and then they throw like they extend their neck outs as they can throw it down at the egg right.

00:24:56
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's quite a visuals.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: We might have some guests who I've been at the Safari Park before when it was called a different name. We had an original bird show which I was a part of. Then we had an Egyptian vulture named Tiba, and Tiba did this very behavior. Yeah, you were right, Jina. He would have his very specific rock. Yeah, and if you lost it, you better not lose that rock. But it was really unique and that it was a learned behavior. So a few kids out there basically they're not hatch knowing this behavior. They have to watch other vultures, other Egyptian vultures do this, so they're just so intelligent in that regard to So thank you for sharing that.

00:25:29
Speaker 5: I love Egyptian vultures me too, and they're critically endangered species. And we had three chicks this year, so yeah, and we had two that were puppet raised up at condors so puppet raised means that we have a puppet that looks like a vulture head and mouth, and we use that to teach them to eat so that they don't see us taking care of them. But for the very first time, we were actually able to give one of the fertile eggs it went to incubation back to the parents and this was their first time actually raising a chicken out at our bird conservation center and they all are healthy and doing fantastic. But it was very very cool to see the parents be able to raise this year and lets us know that.

00:26:10
Speaker 3: We can do that again next time, is right well, as we get ready to wrap up, I always love hearing from our specialists and those who do this work about what it's personally for them, because so much we talk about the importance of the conservation and how to educate others, how others can get involved, and why they should care. But for you, Jen, I mean here you are working at Safari Park, and I think sometimes as guests come through and they see us doing our jobs, like, well, this is what that person does and all that, But we're humans. We're all humans, and this is a work of passion for you personally, to be able to be a part of what you're doing, to travel to Africa multiple times to help bring knowledge and learn as well for you personally and your journey and your passions.

00:26:51
Speaker 1: What does that mean to you?

00:26:52
Speaker 5: For me, it feeds my soul, so conservation work it's like the heart of my love and my passion and it makes everything worthwhile and seeing how it all comes together to the bigger picture is huge. But for me, I love having that opportunity for our team. So our team cares for these animals day after day and to be able to send them out and do work with our partners at Volpro. It's not only rejuvenating them and giving that energy to come back here and continue on with the conservation work and giving our wildlife the best care that they can, but at the same time you get a peace of mind as well in perspective. So here at the Stanegazoo Spry Park, we are so lucky to have basically everything we need to give our wildlife the very best care. And when you go to another country, you go to South Africa, the team there is like a family. They're fantastic and they give their wildlife the best care, but they.

00:27:48
Speaker 2: Don't have the same resources that we have.

00:27:50
Speaker 5: We don't have cameras on every nest. They don't even have drains in their pools or hoses, so like you're doing things by hand, and it gives you a different perspective of I think when you are working here and you get to go there, see the birds flying in the wild, seeing the space and seeing how lucky you are to have the tools and the things we have here at the park, and then also if you're lucky enough, which this year, we were able to release seven birds back out into the wild while we were there, which was definitely the highlight for me, and I know our staff who've been going, who have gone in the past have gotten to do that too. That's just like icing on the cake. To be able to care for the birds and the rehab center there, help raise chicks and then be able to actually see it all the way through and release them is just It's an amazing experience and I'm glad it's something that we're able to offer our staff and give them that full circle of how the work they're doing here goes to the conservation work in South Africa.

00:28:50
Speaker 1: Beautiful.

00:28:51
Speaker 3: I love it.

00:28:52
Speaker 2: I love it. Yeah, well said front.

00:28:53
Speaker 4: That was really great and for kids now, like this is something you guys came involved in as well. We all have different passions. You the benture on. I know you're a pair of girl Jenna, right, but again everyone's got these passions right, and we can all support these wonderful programs like coming to the Safari Park San Diego Zoo, spend some time with the vultures, you guys right, I mean International Vulture Awareness Day September two this year it just passed, but these are days for us to bring awareness for a lot of different.

00:29:19
Speaker 2: Species and a wonderful way to celebrate vultures of the world.

00:29:22
Speaker 5: Absolutely, yeah, and I would encourage everyone to check out Volpro's website and see all the different work they're doing. They are monitoring wild breeding populations, they're breeding. They're an amazing organization and the work they do is incredible.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: So if you're able to.

00:29:36
Speaker 5: Ever go, they do do tours and of course see it firsthand, would be you really neat.

00:29:41
Speaker 4: That's great, Jenna, Thank you so much for spending the time with us and sharing your passionate about these bald and beautiful birds.

00:29:46
Speaker 5: Thank you guys for having me. Yeah.

00:29:48
Speaker 1: Thanks Jenna.

00:29:52
Speaker 3: Wow, Marco, thank you so much for setting up to interview with Jenna. Honestly, it's hard to say whose excitement and passion for birds is stronger yours are.

00:30:00
Speaker 2: You know, maybe let's just call it a tie.

00:30:02
Speaker 3: Fair enough, fair enough, And I mean I get it. Birds are fascinating in so many ways.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: And I'll admit vultures are high on my list of favorite animals too.

00:30:11
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right. Didn't you say something about a favorite turkey vulture?

00:30:14
Speaker 3: Ah?

00:30:14
Speaker 1: Yes, good memory, my friend. You are correct.

00:30:17
Speaker 3: One of the very first animals I worked in close contact with was a non releasable turkey vulture, and I will fully admit full disclosure, I was not expecting to be so fascinated by a vulture vulture behavior and their social structure.

00:30:30
Speaker 1: There's so much to fall in love with.

00:30:32
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I totally get it.

00:30:34
Speaker 4: I mean, there's so much to love And like Jenna was discussing, we need these amazing birds and raising awareness about their current challenges. It's really important because so many people are unaware of what's happening to them and why we need to help them.

00:30:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true.

00:30:48
Speaker 3: And sometimes because we as humans tend to gravitate to things that are visually considered cute, like pandas and tigers or elephants. The animals that are sometimes thought of.

00:30:58
Speaker 1: As well in quotes, less attractive may not get the attention they need exactly.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: And that's really why I was so excited about this episode Rcky.

00:31:07
Speaker 4: Oftentimes in movies cartoons, vultures are depicted in a not so great light, I gotta say. And because you know, like a lot of other wildlife, once you spend time getting to know them, you can't help but fall in love with them, right, just like with you and the Turkey vulture.

00:31:20
Speaker 3: No exactly, exactly, like bild saying goes, to know them is to love them exactly.

00:31:24
Speaker 4: And I really hope this episode help our listeners get to know vultures a little bit better so that maybe they will love them too.

00:31:32
Speaker 1: Me too, Marco.

00:31:32
Speaker 3: And you know what, I'm really enjoying these episodes we're doing that are tied to a special day to help bring more awareness to particular.

00:31:38
Speaker 1: Species of wildlife. I think we should do another one.

00:31:41
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, what are you thinking.

00:31:43
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about the fact that our next episode of Amazing Wildlife comes out on September twenty second, right on the nose if you will, of World Rhino Day.

00:31:53
Speaker 2: Oh that's perfect timing, all right, Fred, Let's do it right on.

00:31:57
Speaker 1: I can't wait.

00:31:59
Speaker 3: If you haven't already be sher, subscribe and tune into our next episode, in which Marco and I find out more about the different species of rhinos and why they are in fact so amazing.

00:32:11
Speaker 1: Now Marco Lint and I'm Rick Schwartz, thanks for listening.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SVZWA dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios. Our supervising producer is Nikiah Swinton, and our sound designer and editor is Sierra Spreen.

00:32:32
Speaker 1: For more shows from iHeartRadio, check

00:32:34
Speaker 3: Out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.