Two black vultures released in the Balkan Mountains

Two black vultures were released in the eastern Balkan Mountains on 26^th of July. They have disappeared from the wilderness of the Balkans in the 1960s and 70s of the last century. The two birds are donated by two European zoos.

Zoo team in the Czech city of Ostrava symbolically handed over the two black vultures to the Rescue Center “Green Balkans” in Stara Zagora. The birds were raised in zoos in Ostrava and Riga, in compliance with the international plan for protection of vultures on the Balkan Peninsula. One bird was named after the famous Bulgarian climber and biologist - Boyan Petrov, who was devoted to the preservation of nature. The vultures were taken from the rescue center and placed in an artificial nest in the Eastern Balkan Mountains. There they will be observed without seeing people to get used to habitat and wildlife, and once they are ready they will leave the adaptation platform themselves.

Elena Stoeva, Head of the project "Bright Future for the Black Vulture": At the moment the birds are marked with a satellite transmitter, special coloured rings are placed on their bodies and some of their feathers are highlighted, allowing the birds to be monitored from a distance.

The international plan aims to gradually regain the vulture population in this part of Europe. At the end of August, another black vulture will arrive in Bulgaria. Birds are the sanitarians of the environment. By destroying the carcasses of farm and wild animals, often in remote and hard-to-reach areas, they prevent the spread of diseases, which leads to millions of savings for farmers and the state.