Join us for International Vulture Awareness Day – Sat 7th Sept, 2024

On Saturday 7th September, 2024 we’ll be taking over the park to raise awareness of the importance of vultures for our planet.

This is an annual event at the park where visitors can learn all about their habitat, feeding habits and issues they face in the wild. Gauntlet Birds of Prey is home to six species of vulture from Europe, Africa and America. You can find out more about our vultures here and with 23 species of vulture on the planet, there’s a lot to talk about.

5 Facts about vultures:

1. Vultures can be found on every continent except for Australia and Antarctica. Divided into two groups New World vultures that live in North America and South America, and Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia and Europe – these groups are not closely related and resemlances can only be attributed to evolution.
2. In ancient Egypt, the Egyptians worshipped the vulture as they believed them to be devoted mothers, with associations of maternal instinct and compassion, which is true.
3. Vultures have strong acids in their stomachs, these acids can destroy bacteria and also break down the bones of carcasses.
4. A Ruppell’s griffon vulture was recorded flying at almost 11.5 kilometres high, this is the highest known recording.
5. These remarkable creatures are nature’s cleaners, ecosystem guardians, flying giants, and devoted parents. Excerpt taken from https://vultureday.org/

A bit of info about International Vulture Awareness Day

On this day zoos all over the world celebrate the mighty vulture. Raising awareness of this species of bird, spreading knowledge and discussing the problems vultures face in the wild today. We discuss ways everyone can help – through talking about the issues, by supporting and donating. We’ll show you how vultures feed, fly and educate as to how they survive in the wild. We will also be raising funds to help save Africa’s endangered vultures.

This event is open to everyone – click here to purchase our ‘Daily Entry Tickets’.

• Doors open at 11am (last entry to the park 3pm)
• Under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult
• Under 3’s go FREE

On the day:

• 12pm – Vulture Talk
• 12.30pm – Flying Show
• 1pm – BBQ
• 1.30pm – Fly a vulture experience (bought on the day!)
• 2pm – Meet and Greet
• 2.30pm – Raffle
• 3pm – Flying show “Taking Flight” and the carcass feed!
• ALL DAY – Reptile House

For anyone who wishes to donate direct to Vulpro, here’s the link to the *donate* page on their website.

With their ‘BE LIKE A VULTURE 24HR CHALLENGE’, on 11th September they will…

1. EAT like a Vulture (A bbq rib meal in our Vulture Aviary)
2. BATHE like a Vulture (Doing an Ice bathe in our main arena)
3. SLEEP like a Vulture (sleeping in our Vulture aviary)
4. FLY like a Vulture (skydive)

If you would like to make a donation, they have set up a JustGiving Page, click here for more info about what and why they are doing this!

Why not join us for a great evening raising funds for the conservation of vultures! Click here for details about the event and to book tickets.