{"id":37371,"date":"2026-10-05T13:32:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T10:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/?p=37371"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T10:32:34","slug":"conviction-in-serbia-for-the-poisoning-of-a-cinereous-vulture-from-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/conviction-in-serbia-for-the-poisoning-of-a-cinereous-vulture-from-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"Conviction in Serbia for the poisoning of a Cinereous Vulture from Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: \u00a9 Slobodan Markovi\u0107<\/em><\/p>\n

A resident of Serbia has received a six-month suspended prison sentence with a two-year probation period<\/strong> after poisoned bait placed for wild animals resulted in the death of a Cinereous Vulture from Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

A Serbian court handed down the suspended sentence to B. R. (58) from Svrljig, who admitted that in early May this year he had placed poison on the carcass of a calf on his livestock property in the Svrljig Mountains. The bait was intended for wild animals. As a result, a Cinereous Vulture \u2013 a protected species and part of ongoing efforts to restore the species in the Balkans \u2013 was killed<\/strong>. Before it was poisoned, the bird had been released into the wild in Bulgaria by our colleagues from Green Balkans. The calf carcass and the poisoned bird were discovered by ornithologists from the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (BPSSS) \u2013 BirdLife\u2019s partner in Serbia, who alerted the police.<\/p>\n

According to the Ni\u0161 Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, the defendant entered into a plea agreement admitting the offence. The sentence imposed was six months in prison, suspended for a two-year probation period.<\/p>\n

The case in Serbia is particularly concerning against the backdrop of the series of vulture poisoning incidents in Bulgaria over the past year<\/strong>. At the same time, it demonstrates the importance of swift and effective action by law enforcement and the judiciary. The case resulted in a conviction approximately six months after the crime was uncovered.<\/p>\n

In March 2026, BSPB found a poisoned Cinereous Vulture in the Byala Reka protected area<\/strong> in Bulgaria. The bird had been released only two months earlier following rehabilitation and had been fitted with a GPS transmitter. During the inspection of the area, traces of a dead animal, an unidentified substance and numerous dead flies were discovered \u2013 indications that poison had been used.<\/p>\n

In August, one of the most serious vulture poisoning incidents in Bulgaria followed:<\/strong> five Cinereous Vultures, two Griffon Vultures and the country\u2019s only Bearded Vulture died in Central Balkan National Park.<\/p>\n

These cases demonstrate how serious the threat posed by poisoned bait remains. A single poisoned carcass can kill numerous animals<\/strong>, including rare and protected species, and can affect birds that travel hundreds of kilometres.<\/p>\n

Every vulture killed by poisoning is more than the loss of a single bird. It is a blow to years of conservation efforts aimed at restoring the species and building a sustainable vulture population in the Balkans.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: \u00a9 Slobodan Markovi\u0107 A resident of Serbia has received a six-month suspended prison sentence with a two-year probation period after poisoned bait placed for wild animals resulted in the death of a Cinereous Vulture from Bulgaria. A Serbian court handed down the suspended sentence to B. R. (58) from Svrljig, who admitted that in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-37371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37371"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bspb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=37371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}