SmartBirds
On 18 February, two Egyptian vultures arrived at Sofia Airport “Vasil Levski” on a flight from the United Kingdom. The birds have been donated to support conservation efforts in Bulgaria and will be included in the national Egyptian Vulture population reinforcement programme.
Their arrival is the result of collaboration between the Municipal Enterprise “Sofia Zoo”, the Horstmann Trust, and the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. This represents the first donation of its kind from the United Kingdom to Bulgaria involving Egyptian Vultures intended for release into the wild—an important milestone in international cooperation for the conservation of this globally endangered species. The Horstmann Trust is the only charitable organisation in the United Kingdom specialising in the breeding and conservation of vultures, and a significant portion of its work directly supports conservation organisations worldwide.
The international transfer of the birds began more than five months ago and required extensive preparation, coordination, and strict compliance with veterinary and administrative regulations. Thanks to the professionalism and dedication of the transport companies, Bulgarian Animal Transport and JCS Livestock, the vultures were safely and calmly transported to Bulgaria.
The young Egyptian vultures were hatched in June last year at the Horstmann Trust’s specialised vulture breeding centre in Wales. There, they were parent-reared under controlled conditions with minimal human contact—an essential step in preparing them for eventual life in the wild. The birds are currently housed in the quarantine facility at Sofia Zoo, where they are reported to be in good health. They will undergo a one-month quarantine period under the supervision of the zoo’s specialists. At the end of March, the BSPB team will transfer them to the “Vulture School” in the Eastern Rhodopes, where they will join nine other juveniles and spend two months undergoing further preparation for release. Following successful adaptation, they are expected to be released into the wild in early summer, contributing to the recovery of the species in Bulgaria.
The Egyptian Vulture population reinforcement programme in Bulgaria is implemented by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds in cooperation with Green Balkans and the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), coordinated by Antonín Vaidl of Prague Zoo. Sofia Zoo, a member of EAZA and participant in the EEP for Egyptian Vultures, currently maintains two breeding pairs and has so far contributed five zoo-bred juveniles to the conservation programme.
Conservation activities for the Egyptian Vulture are carried out within the framework of the project “The Green Belt of Southeast Bulgaria”, funded by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme (ELSP), managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative—a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and leading international biodiversity conservation organisations.
