Wildlife researchers fear that South Africa’s vultures are being hunted into extinction so that people can smoke their brains for good luck.
Smoking vulture brains, which is believed to tap the scavenger’s superior vision to induce visions of the future, is a popular activity among gamblers, exam-wary students, and businessmen.
The brains are dried, mixed with mud, then rolled up and smoked like a cigarette.
From the Telegraph:
Scelo, a healer in Johannesburg’s muti market, said: “Vultures are scarce. I only have one every three or four months. Everybody asks for the brain. You see things that people can’t see. For lotto, you dream the numbers.
Seven of the nine species of vulture in South Africa are considered endangered. Researchers believe the birds will be completely extinct in as little as 20-30 years if hunters don’t stop killing them to harvest brains.
[Via: Telegraph]
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