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Survey estimated 20,200 Yellow-billed Kites killed during two hunting seasons in southern Benin

Yellow-billed kite in flight over Lake Ziway, Ethiopia
Conservation · Trade & poaching

Yellow-billed kites (Milvus aegyptius) are being killed in large numbers for food and belief-based wildlife use in southern Benin, according to field research reported by Mongabay in July 2026. The figures came from researcher Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra’s fieldwork; the announced scientific paper had not yet been published when the findings were reported.

Two hunting seasons were estimated to have killed 20,200 kites

Researcher Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra of the International Bird Conservation Partnership surveyed hunting and trade involving the species. During the November-to-March hunting seasons in 2022 and 2023, his work estimated that hunters killed 20,200 yellow-billed kites in southern Benin. Chaffra told Mongabay that the hunts recur as the migratory kites return to the region.

Nearly 2,000 kites were counted in seven markets

The trade was also visible in wildlife markets. In February 2024, Chaffra visited seven wildlife markets serving ritual and traditional-medicine use in Benin and counted nearly 2,000 yellow-billed kites offered for sale. Birds were present alive, dead or as body parts, and chicks were also recorded. Some kites had the feathers removed from their heads and necks and were being presented for sale as hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus).

Chaffra links this substitution to the severe decline of vultures in West Africa. Hooded vultures are highly sought for ritual and medicinal uses, and Chaffra described yellow-billed kites as increasingly being used as replacements as vultures become scarcer. Related hunting and trade have also been reported from neighbouring Togo and Nigeria.

Yellow-billed kites are widespread and remain globally listed as Least Concern, but the scale of the reported killing has raised concern among raptor specialists. BirdLife International’s Rob Martin told Mongabay that numbers of this magnitude are sufficient to cause population-level effects, particularly if adult birds make up part of the offtake. Ralph Buij of The Peregrine Fund likewise described the recent market figures as evidence of heavy exploitation of kites for belief-based use.

The researchers and conservationists interviewed called for stronger enforcement against illegal hunting and trade, efforts to reduce demand among traditional practitioners, continued monitoring of wildlife markets and tracking studies to establish where the kites using Benin originate. These measures are intended to determine how sustained annual hunting is affecting populations that move across national borders.

Sources and image credit

  1. Mowbray, S. (2026, July 7). Belief-based use increasing threat to yellow-billed kite, an important African scavenger. Mongabay.Detailed 7 July 2026 report based on direct interviews with researcher Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra and raptor-conservation specialists; the underlying Bulletin of the African Bird Club paper was still forthcoming.
  2. International Bird Conservation Partnership. (2026, July 8). Belief-based use increasing threat to yellow-billed kite, an important African scavenger.Chaffra’s research organisation republished the report and confirmed the research and conservation context.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — yellow-billed kite photographed in flight at Lake Ziway, Ethiopia; representative species image, not from the southern Benin survey. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International · Source

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