How conservationists’ wing tags are actually endangering the Cape vulture A Cape vulture with a wing tag. Image: VulPro In a bid to save Cape vultures from extinction, conservationists fit them with wing tags. But a new study has found the tags are endangering the birds’ lives. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Germany and VulPro, a SA vulture conservation organisation, found that wing tags limit the movement and speed of vultures, compared with birds fitted with bands around their legs. According to results published in the journal Animal Biotelemetry, conservationists have been fitting vultures with wing tags for over a decade.