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Eindhoven Zoo again releases griffon vulture in nature reserve in Bulgarian mountains
Following the example of griffon vulture Stanislav, his sister, Zivka, will soon also be released into the wild. The vulture, which was born in Eindhoven Zoo in April this year, is leaving today for Bulgaria.
There Zivka will start getting used to her new environment, after which the griffon vulture will be released into Sinite kamani nature park next year. In that nature reserve, Stanislav has been flying around since June of this year. He has now settled in the park and lives with a number of other vultures.
Population declineTogether with Green Balkans and Stichting Wildlife, Eindhoven Zoo is working to reintroduce the vulture to Bulgaria. Several European vulture species, the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture and the monk vulture, were completely extinct in that country. This was in part because farmers laid down poisoned carcasses to outlive wolves and bears. However, vultures also fell victim to this, causing a rapid population decline since the 1970s.
Green Balkans handles various nature conservation projects, including maintaining and increasing the populations of European vultures. Zivka, like Stanislav, will contribute to these.
Contribution"That we can release another vulture into the wild is really nice. We see that Stanislav is doing incredibly well in Bulgaria and that's why we want to make another contribution to getting the population of vultures up to par in the country," says chief zookeeper Stephan Rijnen.
"We of course hope that Zivka, like Stanislav, will find her niche in Sinite kamani," Rijnen said. The name Zivka came out a winner in a name contest on Eindhoven Zoo's social channels and means "she who lives. "A beautiful name and a fitting meaning," Rijnen said.
ProtectionGreen Balkans provides various nature conservation projects, including maintaining and increasing populations of European vultures. In addition, this organization is committed to nature conservation and employees provide education on European vulture species.
Stichting Wildlife contributes to these projects through funding. This contribution allows Green Balkans to release vultures into the wild, as well as address the factors that cause the raptors to die. "Consider, for example, securing electricity pylons, as vultures die from the shock they receive when they touch the wires. Thanks in part to Stichting Wildlife's contribution, the pylons could be isolated and since then no dead vultures have been found around those electricity pylons," said Kris Hekhuis of Stichting Wildlife.
Do you want to know all about this project? Then clickhere.
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