Cyprus to welcome 44 majestic vultures in bold conservation effort

Fifteen vultures were flown to Cyprus from Spain last week as part of the Life with Vultures program to save the endangered Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus.

In a joint statement, BirdLife Cyprus, the Game and Wildlife Service, the Vulture Conservation Foundation and Terra Cypria announced that a total of 44 young vultures have been transported to Cyprus as part of the program, 29 of which have already been released into the countryside.

The new additions were transferred to a special area of the Game and Fauna Service in Limassol district and will remain there for at least six months.

The vultures will receive satellite transmitters to track their movements and for early rescue intervention purposes, in case any bird is in trouble, the announcement reads.

Spain hosts 90-95% of Europe's vultures, with the population of the Golden Vulture numbering 30,000 pairs.

The announcement says that vulture population in Cyprus cannot recover without human intervention.

It is noted that a study by the Vulture Conservation Foundation has shown that the Cypriot population will disappear within the next 15 years, if the frequency of poisonings remains in the current high levels, i.e 4 cases of poisoning every 5 years.

Conservation actions managed to reduce the frequency of poisonings by 90% and along with the import of new birds from abroad, the population recovery will be achieved within the next 25 years.