A few days ago, BSPB released the Egyptian Vulture named Ferdinand back in the wild in the Eastern Rhodopes. He was rescued in late May and spent one month in the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Center of Green Balkans until his wing fully recovered. After the vet examination, it was confirmed that Ferdinand was ready to be released, and the BSPB team transported him to the Egyptian vulture adaptation aviary in the Eastern Rhodopes. He spent a few days in the spacious aviary practising his flight abilities. Ferdinand was eager to be released and join his friends at the vulture feeding station. He was equipped with a GPS transmitter, and we will continue to follow his movements and future wanderings. After the release, Ferdinand regularly visited the supplementary feeding station but also made some long-distance flights proving that his wing had fully recovered.

It is a story with a happy end thanks to the immediate reaction of the experts from BSPB and Green Balkans. In late May, the GPS flights of the vulture showed strange behaviour and only short-distance flights. BSPB’s team immediately visited the place and managed to capture the bird. The vet examination in the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Center of Green Balkans revealed that it had injured its wing in a collision.

Ferdinand was born in Sofia Zoo in 2019 and was raised for two years in the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Center of Green Balkans. In 2021, he was released by BSPB in the Eastern Rhodopes as part of the Restocking program for the species, which aims to recover the highly threatened Balkan population of this Endangered species.