A young African white-backed vulture is preparing to undergo cataract surgery in hopes of restoring his eyesight.
In the first operation of its kind on any African vulture species, an 11-month-old Gyps Africanus diagnosed with advanced cataracts will hopefully be able to see the world around him, thanks to the vets at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.

According to News24, the vulture was taken to Onderstepoort for treatment by Kerri Wolter of the Rhino and Lion Conservation’s vulture program. Upon examination, it was determined that the vulture was almost completely blind.

African white-backed vultures (like the other Old World vulture species) have virtually no sense of smell, and rely entirely on sight to locate their food.

Wolter believes that the young vulture was either born blind or developed cataracts as a chick - and would have certainly died without treatment.

I think it relied on its parents to survive for almost 11 months, but they would have kicked him out as they started to breed, so I don’t think it would have survived for more than a week longer in the wild.

Chris van Blerk of the Faculty of of Veterinary Science said via News24 that if everything goes according to plan, the vulture will emerge “long-sighted” from the operation - which entails removing the lenses from the bird’s eyes.

After the surgery, the vulture will require antibiotics and eyedrops for about six weeks and will be kept at the Rhino and Lion Wildlife Conservation facilities during recovery.

The next step will be observing the vulture in a flight enclosure to determine if he can be released on a private farm that is situated near a vulture restaurant (a poison-free supply of carcasses).

However, if the young patient does not rehabilitate sufficiently for release, he will have a home at the conservation center, serving as an “ambassador” for the African white-backed vulture, to help educate the public about vulture conservation.

Source: GO Media - Written by Rhishja Larson - Image: flickr.com/lipkee/ / CC BY-SA 2.0