A violent tempest that formed over Colorado Springs this past Monday dropped softball - sized hailstone onto the grounds of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo , force panicked visitors , staff , and animals to seek protection abruptly . Sadly , two of the park ’s charges were pop : a Muscovy duck’s egg and a 13 - year - old Cape marauder that been brought to the US from South Africa through an endangered coinage training and fundraising program .
The formidably beautiful bird , given the name Motswari – mean to conserve and protect " in the Tswana nomenclature – was one of eight Cape marauder transferred to American zoos in the Leslie Townes Hope that hokey insemination done by avian experts could boost the species ’ declining numbers . fit in toThe Washington Post , Motswari had been rescued from the wild at eight months old after shattering her wing in a collision with a power line of descent .
Once bump throughout the southern luck of the continent , mantle vultures now face up a 10000 of anthropogenic threats , the most dreadful of which let in electric equipment entanglement like Motswari ’s , inadvertent poisoning from eat the carcasses of animals that have down rodenticides , loss of home ground , and hunting for use in traditional medicine . TheIUCN Redliststates that species has gone regionally extinct in Namibia and Swaziland , and though some area ’s populations are now stable or increasing , it is estimated that between 66 and 81 percent of these birds have been lost since the sixties .
And like other species of Old World vultures ( woefully also imperiled by human activeness ) , Cape vultures position only one ballock per season . But the offspring produced by just a humble handful of reproducing adult can make the difference in Bronx cheer repopulation elbow grease , Jemima Parry - Jones MBE , director of the International Centre for Birds of Prey , secernate IFLSciencewhen discussing the plight of theEuropean griffon vulturein January .
“ The California Condor , the Mauritius Kestrel and many other species of birds have been reliant on that one dyad breeding at the start of the programme , ” tell Perry - Jones .
A Cheyenne Mountain Zoopress releaseissued on Tuesday reported that several other animals that were injured by the hail are still being assessed by veterinarians and that multiple staff members were struck when strain to assist the befuddled panicky animals .
“ Even animals that apply their on - showing dens and shelters on a day-to-day ground were prone to confusion by the fast onset of the storm , and also suffered mix-up by the onset of hail , ” the menagerie said .
“ [ T]he telephone number and extent of those injury are still being determined , ” they continued , noting that the icy banging also caused major terms to the holding .
