An update on the bearded vulture EEP:
44 chicks fledged during the recent breeding season (winter 23/24)
- 24 were rewilded (zero of them in Balkan, why??)
- 20 were retained in the EEP
Source - VCF
The EEP currently counts around 200 birds. I guess annual mortality is ca 10 birds. If EEP decides to retain 20 chicks instead of just 10 that would be needed to keep the captive population stable, it means increase of future captive pairs by up to 5! There will be birds available for new zoos.
44 chicks fledged during the recent breeding season (winter 23/24)
- 24 were rewilded (zero of them in Balkan, why??)
- 20 were retained in the EEP
Source - VCF
The EEP currently counts around 200 birds. I guess annual mortality is ca 10 birds. If EEP decides to retain 20 chicks instead of just 10 that would be needed to keep the captive population stable, it means increase of future captive pairs by up to 5! There will be birds available for new zoos.