Re-introduction of Griffon vultures and consequent return of Egyptian vultures in the Kotel Mountains, Bulgaria

Summary

The Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), once common in Bulgaria's Kotel Mountains but absent for about 50 years after coordinated state-level poison-bait campaigns against predators eliminated it, was reintroduced by the Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna as a deliberate tool to also help restore the far more threatened Egyptian vulture, whose last Kotel breeding pair had disappeared in 1989 and which had been uplisted to globally Endangered by 2007. The project established a supervised feeding station to provide safe carrion and reduce poisoning risk, worked with local communities to establish extensive, well-managed sheep farms that both support livestock-dependent scavengers and improve pasture habitat, and directly reintroduced Griffon vultures, reasoning that this more readily obtainable species would attract and anchor wandering, non-breeding Egyptian vultures into a protected, monitored area. Following implementation, a small nucleus of Griffon vultures returned to Kotel after 50 years of absence, and four sub-adult and immature Egyptian vultures were observed at the feeding station after nearly 20 years, including one new pair displaying courtship and territorial behavior. The feeding station has also drawn other rare raptors previously absent from the area, including golden eagle, black kite and the globally threatened eastern imperial eagle. Major difficulties included shifting deep-rooted local attitudes toward birds of prey as livestock threats, curbing continued illegal poison use, and persuading the wider conservation community that reintroducing a lower-priority species could meaningfully aid a higher-priority one. The project rates itself Successful, noting it would be considered Highly Successful once sustained breeding success is documented, which had not yet occurred at the time of reporting.