Causes of admissions to a raptor rehabilitation centre in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Lindy J. Thompson, 1 Ben Hoffman 2 & Mark Brown 1* 1 School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Pietermaritzburg, 3209 South Africa 2 Raptor Rescue, P.O. Box 288, Umlaas Road, 3730 South Africa Received 28 February 2013. Accepted 26 September 2013 With many species of southern African raptors becoming increasingly threatened, records from rehabilitation centres can give an indication of the threats faced by birds of prey in particular areas and to particular species. Thus, admissions records from a raptor rehabilitation centre in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were analysed for trends. Over eight years (2004–2011), 547 birds from 39 raptor species were admitted to the centre. The majority of individuals were spotted eagle-owls (16.6%), western barn owls (15.2%) and yellow-billed kites (9.7%). The most frequent known causes of injury to raptors were motor vehicle accidents and injuries caused when birds flew into buildings. There was no significant difference in admissions of motor vehicle collision cases between seasons. People generally waited 3.8 days before bringing injured raptors in to the centre, and approximately half of the birds admitted were fed within that time, highlighting a need for public education regarding the general diets of raptors and the benefits of prompt medical attention. Key words: raptors, threats, mortalities, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. INTRODUCTION Southern Africa is inhabited by 78 species of raptors; 66 diurnal and 12 species of owls (Hockey et al. 2005). These birds are important both ecologi- cally and as environmental indicators (Sergio et al. 2008; Ogada et al. 2011). Nevertheless, over the past few decades there has been a widespread decline in the numbers of African raptors (Goriup & Tucker 2007; Thiollay 2007). The threats facing these birds include both deliberate and uninten- tional poisoning (Kirby et al. 2008), shooting and other forms of direct persecution (Anderson 2000), power line electrocutions and collisions (Lehman et al. 2007; Rossouw & McCann 2007), impacts of roads and other infrastructure (Benítez-López et al. 2010), land-use change and food shortages (Herremans & Herremans-Tonnoeyr 2000; Goriup & Tucker 2007), disturbance during the breeding period (Herholdt 1998; Kirby et al. 2008), drowning in farm reservoirs (Anderson et al. 1999), and the il- legal trade in body parts for bushmeat and indige- nous medicine (Ogada & Buji 2011; Whiting et al. 2011). In addition, accelerated climate change, al- ready affecting birds, is generally expected to exac- erbate the aforementioned pressures (Kirby et al. 2008; Wormworth & Ôekerciolu 2011). Many of these threats to raptors have been highlighted for a long time (Kirby et al. 2008), but the scale and intensity of the pressures that raptors face have grown as economies and human populations have increased (Thiollay 2007; BirdLife Interna- tional 2008). One way in which threats to raptors may be elucidated is by the examination of admit- tance records from rehabilitation facilities (Wim- berger & Downs 2010). This study aims to collate data from admissions records from a raptor reha- bilitation centre in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to highlight some of the threats facing raptors in this area, and to find which species are most at risk. MATERIALS & METHODS This study was conducted using admittance records from the Raptor Rescue rehabilitation centre (hereafter referred to as Raptor Rescue), in Camperdown (29°40’32”S 30°30’52”E) near Pieter- maritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, on South Africa’s east coast. Raptor Rescue is run by an experienced raptor rehabilitator and falconer who holds provin- cial and national permits for the rehabilitation of wild raptors. Raptor Rescue receives injured raptors directly from members of the public or other organizations such as the FreeMe KZN Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Alterna- tively, Raptor Rescue staff may collect injured birds. Birds unlikely to recover are euthanased immediately while the rest are held for treatment and rehabilitation in pens and flight tunnels until African Zoology 48(2): 359–366 (October 2013) *Author for correspondence. E-mail: brownma@ukzn.ac.za