We are going to complete a two day walk along the Tissington Trail in Derbyshire to raise as much money as we can for the Vulture Ambulance and Vulture rescue kits.

Why do vultures need an ambulance?

The plight of Vultures is closely linked to the poaching crisis in Africa. When an Elephant or other large animal is killed by the poachers the Vultures are the first to notice and circle above the kill, making all the other animals aware that there's dinner available. This is the key feature of vultures in the ecosystem. More interesting Vulture facts to follow. But because of this, the vultures also provide a visual clue to the people stopping poaching, for a while many poachers were caught by watching and following circling vultures- that is until the poachers started lacing the kills with cyanide and other deadly poisons that killed all the animals who came to feed through the entire food chain.

So this is why money is needed to get to the poisoned vultures, one poisoned carcass can kill hundreds of animals. The ambulance provides treatment for the injured birds and covers the carcass to prevent feeding while it's disposed of safely.

Because of the poisonings, vultures have gone from status of least concern to critically endangered rapidly and now will only exist in the wild for 5 years or less.

There are breeding programmes in captivity and the picture of us with the first captive bred Hooded Vulture in the UK. He's adorable. These Vultures have a bad rep. They are very very gentle, they are the only bird at the falconry centre which is regularly flown without a glove. They are known as the people's friend. They cannot withstand cyanide and other poisins but they can digest deadly bacteria such as botulism, anthrax, and ebola so when they are feeding on dead animals in the wild the are tidying up and making things safe for other animals and humans. We've spend quite a bit of time with them at the Gauntlet Birds of Prey centre and they are lovely, gentle animals. https://gauntletbirdsofprey.co.uk/

If you are able to sponsor us whatever you can afford- we know times are tight, that would be really wonderful.

We will walk as far as we can in those two days up and down the Tissington trail as far as we can. We anticipate this to be a minimum of 17 miles as we plan to link the high peak and Tissington trails. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissington_Trail

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