When Sarah Chabangu was growing up in Mamelodi, her big dream was to one day play a role in conservation.
With her first experiment to save an injured bird from her mother’s garden, she knew she wanted to work to protect animals, pets, and nature.
“My mother loved gardening and I was always around her feet in the garden. Then one day I picked up the injured bird. I became so attached to him and raised him on ProNutro,” she said.
Today, as a respected expert, Chabangu heads the Pretoria Zoo’s Bird Department as a senior curator and has already made a name for herself with the zoo’s vulture breeding programme over the past two decades.
The programme focuses on raising vulture chicks from the endangered Cape vulture with parent pairs in the zoo and releasing them into the wild with the vulture conservation organisation Vulpro.
This initiative is the only one in Africa solely focused on Cape vultures.
According to the latest global assessment, the Cape vulture population in 2021 was estimated to be between 9 600 and 12 800.
Their status with the International Union for Conservation of Nature is vulnerable. This means they face a high risk of extinction in the wild.
Since the inception of the programme in 1996, it has played a critical role in the conservation of the vulnerable Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres), with Chabangu, her team, and other roleplayers making a significant contribution by supplementing wild populations with captive-bred birds.
Chabangu faced many challenges to reach her current position from the first bird she rescued in her mother’s garden.
She struggled to get guidance at school about which field of study to pursue and had to rely on a city librarian for direction.
Starting her conservation studies in Afrikaans at Technikon RSA in the 1990s, she translated her study guides word for word with her mother’s help. “And an Afrikaans dictionary!”
She joined the Pretoria Zoo as a volunteer in the mid-1990s, doing tasks like cleaning the rhinos’ bomas. After a year of hard work, she was offered a permanent position to work, among other things, on the parrot programme.
Today, she values this humble beginning, as it taught her the importance of observation and documentation in research.
During her research on vultures, Chabangu also resumed her studies for a Bachelor’s degree in conservation and obtained a B Tech-degree.
In the mid-90s, she observed the vultures at the zoo, especially during mealtimes, to learn about their behaviour and nesting habits. These birds were brought to the zoo as injured vultures over the years, mostly due to flying into power lines or being shot.
She saw potential in breeding their chicks, despite the challenge of the parent vultures laying only one egg a year.
In 1996, Chabangu and vulture conservation expert Dr Gerhard Verdoorn began working together to establish a breeding programme for Cape vultures.
Eggs were placed in an incubator, hand-reared and returned to the parents for further care with the aim of possible release.
This project was carried out with the help of the vulture conservation group Vulpro and is part of a multi-species biodiversity management plan of the government.
Vulpro, led by Kerri Wolter, was initially based near Hartebeespoort but now operates from Shamwari Private Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape.
In 2015, a group of Cape vultures at the zoo was identified for release with transmitters, with some facing challenges or death and others successfully travelling across South Africa and Lesotho.
Wolter told Rekord they are thankful to the Pretoria Zoo for joining forces with them in supporting wild populations through the supplementation of captive bred offspring.
“Allowing the non-releasable birds to continue breeding also contributes to the greater conservation goal of reducing population declines by bolstering wild populations,” said Wolter.
Of the original group of injured birds from the 90s, only one remains today.
Visitors to the zoo may find visiting the vultures sometimes a bit boring, but Chabangu believes they are delightful and enriching to observe.
“Especially if you surprise them with a watermelon to eat!”
She has often shared her expertise with overseas zoos during international visits and ensures that the birds under her care are entered in the National Stud Book.
She remains committed to continuing the conservation programme sustainably, with a focus on returning the releasable birds to a habitat in which they will be free.
“These birds belong in the wild.”
– Click here to see a video of the Cape vultures at the Pretoria Zoo:
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