Torrential rain and Vultures sightings accompanied the first LIFE Vultures media trip in the Eastern Rhodopes

29 May 2017

Torrential rain and a lot of vultures sightings accompanied the first LIFE Vultures trip in the Eastern Rhodopes  within the frames of the project.

The torrential rain at the end of last week did not prevent the project team “Preservation of Black and Griffon Vultures in the Rhodope Mountains” to present key observation, nesting and feeding places for the vultures and the conservation activities related to the preservation of these rare birds. Six journalists from a number of national and regional media, including Magazine 8, Dnevnik, Horizon Program, BNR Kardzhali and the New Life newspaper and freelance journalist, took part in the journalistic trip at the end of last week.

During the three-day media trip to the Eastern Rhodopes region, journalists visited some of the key areas of the project, where the concentration of Griffon Vultures is greatest, among which  the spectacular at this time of the year Studen Kladenets reservoir. No trip in the area is complete without the visit of Madjarovo Nature Conservation Center where we all learned curious details about the secret life of the vultures. The journalists visited one of the feeding grounds and attended a key activity for our team – tagging and placing satellite transmitters on some of the birds in the area. Journalist and the team witnessed the release of the last marked Griffon Vultures  by a wing-stick in that literally flew over journalists’ heads.

The media representatives met the anti-poison dog unit team.
The media representatives met the anti-poison dog unit team.

The demonstration of the poison control team, which took place at the end of the three-day trip, was one of the highlights of the trip. Nikolay Terziev from the team presented  his four-legged partner, Bars. Despite the rain the dog sniffed around and found the dead animal within a minutes. Nikolay also told their story from the very scratch – starting from the long and strenuous training in Hungary last summer and the continuous efforts to form a team. Together we also discussed the dangerous poison incidents in recent months in Kresna and the Eastern Rhodopes and possible measures to prevent further accidents from happening.

During the trip, the participants met with some our project partners. The visit was a chance to see at first hand the results of the work within the project frame related to the release of fallow and red life-vultures-colourdeer. One of the key activities of the project, including the opportunities for the development of natural photo and ornithological tourism, were also discussed The journalists met with a local entrepreneur whose photo hide in the Madjarovo region was modernized with the financial support of the LIFE Vulture project.

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