Zoo Ostrava The Annual Report 2009

50
Rehabilitation of the cinereous vulture and bearded vulture
Jiří Novák
Restoring parts of Mother Nature damaged by humanity is many times associated with satisfaction over the
well done job and related gratification. In addition, seeing the wildlife returning to places of original range
brings along intense excitement to people working in zoos. Even though the professional as well as laymen
community is very well aware of the fact that Ostrava Zoo has long been involved in projects returning specific
animal species into the wild in the Czech Republic or also Slovakia, 2009 became a real historical milestone,
as not only two large and rare members of birds of prey were bred and reared for the first time at Ostrava Zoo,
but even helped repopulate the native range of both species - the cinereous vulture and the bearded vulture
- placed outside the Czech border, in French mountains.
Both species are especially spectacular birds and their biology makes them highly attractive. They do
not compete with humans in terms of food or anything else, being neither hunters nor source of threat to
domestic animals - indeed, eliminating carcasses of death vertebrates by eating is something through which
these birds deliver an invaluable service to nature and in fact to man. The less we understand today why these
birds were hunted by humans, driven to extinction in most places in Europe over time.
The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) inhabits patchy areas in mountain and alpine ranges of Africa,
Central Asia and Southern Europe and has now returned to the Alps, which is the region where this majestic
bird of prey was exterminated by man - the last shot dates back to 1913. In 1978, an international project
named Returning the bearded vulture into the Alps was launched, with stakeholders being not only zoological
parks throughout Europe including Ostrava, but also boards of national parks in the Alps, World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) and specialist breeding centres. First birds were released into the wild within the Austrian territory
after 8 years of preparation in 1986; however, it took as much as 11 years before any first successful fledging
could take place, which very well reflects how much time and struggling it takes to recover the previous
actions of man. Nowadays, there are about 120 to 130 birds ranging freely in the Alps. The bearded vulture
now already nests regularly in the territory of Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy, with as many as 40 young
birds successfully fledged to date.
The cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) resides in Asian mountain ranges up to the level of 4,000 m,
while in Europe this bird have survived only in the mountains of the Pyrenean Peninsula, with rare vagrant
birds seen in Central Europe. As with a number of other birds of prey, the cinereous vulture population has
suffered a drastic decline in the wild, being now listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN's Red List of Threatened
Species. A successfully running project of returning these imperial birds of prey into the specific localities of
Europe, particularly those in France and in the Island of Mallorca, exists also for the cinereous vulture, with
the zoo in Ostrava contributing their offspring produced in 2009. The Mallorca population consisted of last
remaining 20 vultures back in 1980, which thanks to the recruitment by captive-bred individuals increased
to current 70 birds. In France, where the cinereous vulture was extirpated, the reintroduction scheme was
launched in 1992, with subsequent first nesting of the birds released taking place in 1997.
Rearing a young vulture or bearded vulture is nothing easy, which is supported by the fact that in 2009, only
two cinereous vulture chicks were successfully reared in Europe. Pitfalls do exist, and include the following: