SmartBirds
Last week, a team from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) prepared the adaptation aviary for Egyptian vultures, which will soon welcome its new “students.”
The aviary has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, the grass has been mowed, and the video surveillance and predator protection systems have successfully passed technical tests. Within the next week, the “vulture school” will welcome the Class of 2025—six young Egyptian vultures. Two of them have been donated by Prague Zoo to support the Restocking programme for the Egyptian vulture in Bulgaria, while the other four are chicks that hatched last year in the Eastern Rhodopes. These chicks were rescued from their nests and raised at the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Center of Green Balkans.
Over the next two months, the young birds will go through an adaptation and training process to prepare for life in the wild.
These activities are part of the Egyptian vulture Restocking programme in Bulgaria, implemented by BSPB in partnership with the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Breeding Center of Green Balkans and the European Endangered Species Program of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). In 2025, these initiatives are being carried out within the framework of the “From the Iron Curtain to the Green belt” project, funded by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme (ELSP).
