50Rehabilitation of the cinereous vulture and bearded vultureJiří NovákRestoring parts of Mother Nature damaged by humanity is many times associated with satisfaction over thewell done job and related gratification. In addition, seeing the wildlife returning to places of original rangebrings along intense excitement to people working in zoos. Even though the professional as well as laymencommunity is very well aware of the fact that <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong> has long been involved in projects returning specificanimal species into the wild in the Czech Republic or also Slovakia, <strong>2009</strong> 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 <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong>,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 donot compete with humans in terms of food or anything else, being neither hunters nor source of threat todomestic animals - indeed, eliminating carcasses of death vertebrates by eating is something through whichthese birds deliver an invaluable service to nature and in fact to man. The less we understand today why thesebirds 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 majesticbird of prey was exterminated by man - the last shot dates back to 1913. In 1978, an international projectnamed Returning the bearded vulture into the Alps was launched, with stakeholders being not only zoologicalparks throughout Europe including <strong>Ostrava</strong>, 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 territoryafter 8 years of preparation in 1986; however, it took as much as 11 years before any first successful fledgingcould take place, which very well reflects how much time and struggling it takes to recover the previousactions of man. Nowadays, there are about <strong>12</strong>0 to 130 birds ranging freely in the Alps. The bearded vulturenow already nests regularly in the territory of Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy, with as many as 40 youngbirds 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 vagrantbirds seen in Central Europe. As with a number of other birds of prey, the cinereous vulture population hassuffered a drastic decline in the wild, being now listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN's Red List of ThreatenedSpecies. A successfully running project of returning these imperial birds of prey into the specific localities ofEurope, particularly those in France and in the Island of Mallorca, exists also for the cinereous vulture, withthe zoo in <strong>Ostrava</strong> contributing their offspring produced in <strong>2009</strong>. The Mallorca population consisted of lastremaining 20 vultures back in 1980, which thanks to the recruitment by captive-bred individuals increasedto current 70 birds. In France, where the cinereous vulture was extirpated, the reintroduction scheme waslaunched 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 <strong>2009</strong>, onlytwo cinereous vulture chicks were successfully reared in Europe. Pitfalls do exist, and include the following:
• Birds of prey are rather slow in reaching maturity - cases are this is not achieved before year 10, meaningthe breeder has to wait a long time, to maybe find out that partners do not get along with each other, onebird of the pair is not reliable in sitting on the eggs or even kills the young, etc. etc. During that long time,one of the pair members may even die.• Birds of prey often lay a single egg, with the annual maximum of two or three eggs per clutch; what's more,cainism is very frequent in some eagles and also in the bearded vulture, meaning that eventually only asingle chick is reared, provided everything go well.• Any hatching and rearing is predetermined by the act of building a nest on a suitable site by the birds ofprey breeding stock, which in captivity needs a large and satisfactory aviary; then the birds have to sit onthe egg quite a long time (up to 2 months), this comprising the natural risk of loss of the egg by for instancecrushing if the egg is handled carelessly, attacking by free-ranging carnivores, and the like.• Once the chick has hatched, there follows the period of care, which takes about a half of year. Not everychick is successfully reared, with pair's experience and skills playing a great role; in addition, the nestingbirds must be kept undisturbed over the entire nesting period.Now, with corresponding professionalism and skills, conditions provided for the birds as necessary andalso a good portion of fortune, the keeping personnel may enjoy the success, as was the case of <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong>personnel with their achievements in form of a male cinereous vulture and female bearded vulture reared. Inboth cases, the chicks were solely kept in care of their parents from the very start, which enormously raised thechance of future involvement of the young birds in breeding or even successful release into the wild to boostthe wild numbers of the species, the latter being eventually the case of both young birds, where the Beardedvulture EEP Coordinator Hans Frey (Vienna Breeding Unit) as well as the Cinereous vulture EEP CoordinatorMarleen Huyghe (Wild Animal Park Planckendael) recommended, upon consultations with <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong>animal managers, the release of the vultures into the wild in French mountains. The bearded vulture femalenamed Condamine was released in Mercantour National Park, while the cinereous vulture Franc was set freein the territory of the Verdon canyon.Both birds were transferred to France crated and placed in a passenger car. In each case, the crew consisted of<strong>Ostrava</strong> personnel, which for departure of the bearded vulture on 3 June <strong>2009</strong> comprised the zoo director andthe chief curator, alternated on 9 September <strong>2009</strong> by the financial manager, deputy director and girl keeperfrom the birds of prey section, who travelled with the cinereous vulture. This made sure the birds would beaccompanied by top zoo representatives and experts, clearly underlining the special nature of both events.The <strong>Ostrava</strong>'s bearded vulture was awaited at the point of destination by an honourable delegation headedby French Minister for Environment, as well as H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, as the entire operation wasunderway under the sponsorship of Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. The Prince in person named theyoung vulture Condamine. The name for the cinereous vulture - Franc, meaning free in French language - wasselected based on the public survey that <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong> had launched on the occasion of planned release of the<strong>Ostrava</strong> vulture from the pre-release aviary.The release crew transferred the bearded vulture juvenile to Mercantour NP, then carrying it on their back ina special crate with straps to a rock shelf placed 1,800 metres above sea level and hard to access to protect thebird from predators. The last steep section of several hundred metres was reserved for <strong>Ostrava</strong> <strong>Zoo</strong> Director.Once the shelf was reached, the <strong>Ostrava</strong> young vulture was installed into a nest covered with sheep wool,51
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