Post-Mortem Findings in East African Birds of Prey

The causes of mortality and other post-mortem findings from 31 free-living and 12 captive East African raptors of 20 species are reported. Seventeen (39.5%) died as a result of trauma and only 4 (9.3%) of infectious disease (acid-fast bacterial infection, aspergillosis, nocardiosis, coliform pneumonia and pancreatitis). Other conditions encountered were anaesthetic overdose, predation, starvation, dehydration, cloacal impaction, pulmonary congestion and osteodystrophy. The causes of mortality are compared with those reported in similar surveys from other parts of the world.