New case of poisoned animal in the Eastern Rhodopes was registered this Sunday. This time the authorities and experts from Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and Green Balkans found wild boar after a signal from concerned hunters from the region of Strazhets, Krumovgrad.
Over the weekend Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) received yet another signal from the last two weeks for poisoning incident. Our team immediately arrived at the site, where together with Bars, specially trained dog to detect poisons, searched the area of the nearby village and surrounding area for poisoned animals. These were the first real life cases for the BSPB new anti-poison dog unit, who had started to work only a few days earlier, within the Re-Vultures LIFE project Conservation of black and griffon vultures in Rhodopes.
This happens only a week after poisoned baits were found in the same are. The number of the detected poisoned animals so far is 14. The two incidents pose a serious threat not only to animal but also human health, warn BSPB experts. This week in the Bulgarian team will be joined by their Greek colleagues as the expert fear that there might be even more poisoned animals. If that’s the case they will be removed and disposed of quickly before causing devastation to wildlife. It is still not clear what poison was used, but what is known is that it is extremely strong and causing almost immediate dead. The heavy rains over the past two weeks further exacerbating the situation. There is a real danger that the poison sinks into the groundwater and from there it can easily find its way to the food of humans and domestic animals, for example by edible plants and mushrooms. A serious threat is the consumption of poisoned game meat. This can lead to severe human health consequences and even death, experts warn more.
There are serious doubts about poisoned Griffon vulture in the area and will be taken decisive action to search and removal to a safe place of poisonous baits, added Ivanov.
This time representatives of police, prosecutors, experts from environmental agency in Haskovo- Haskovo and veterinary services also responded to the signal. As a result, currently there is an ongoing inquiry into the dangerous incident. The area was also searched by exerts of Green Balkans, which were the first one to react to the signal last week.