The Mabula Ground Hornbill Project needs your help to save existing wild populations in South Africa and restore populations in areas where the species has become locally extinct. 

We are working hard to reduce to remove the following threats that pose a significant risk to the persistence of Southern Ground-Hornbills in the southern African landscape:

1. Lead toxicosis from spent-lead ammunition;
2. Secondary poisoning from bait put out for so-called ‘pest’ species such as jackal and leopard;
3. Electrocution on transformer boxes;
4. Wind-farm development;
5. Loss of nest trees due to elephant damage or extreme floods/winds and timber harvesting;
6. Off-take for use in traditional medicine and ritual; and
7. Persecution for breaking windows (a natural territorial display).

As the species is found within large group territories (average 100 km2 per co-operatively breeding family) and reduction in these threats is also a win for a number of other threatened species such as the vultures, making ground-hornbills both an excellent and highly visible flagship species, but also an umbrella species.