Hawk Mountain Sanctuary has been awarded a grant by the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) for the work to protect two species of critically endangered vultures, the white-backed and hooded, in South Africa through the Sanctuary’s “Safe Spaces” project. The Fund has been supporting local efforts around the world aimed at saving wildlife, inspiring action and protecting the planet with nearly $86 million distributed to nonprofit organizations since 1995.

Hawk Mountain uses a local-to-global approach to help meet the mission of conserving birds of prey worldwide, as well as in its own backyard. The science team will work with Dr. Lindy Thompson of the Endangered Wildlife Trust to mitigate unsafe electrical and agricultural infrastructure, implement grassroots public awareness campaigns to improve the perception of vultures, and provide poisoning intervention training in order to reduce the dramatic impact of poisoning on vultures and other scavengers.