Тhe Bright Future for Black Vulture

The word “adopting” is not too precise. With us it gets a new meaning. As you have probably figured out, vultures do not make lovable and kind pets and you won’t need to take one home, clean and feed it. The birds we are settling are mostly wild, unaccustomed to people and we want them to remain so, in order to manage to successfully adapt to living into the wild.

Despite that, as they arrive from the dry and hot climate of Spain or various zoos from all over Europe, they need time to acclimatize and get used to the surroundings. Until that time they live in aviaries, maintained by the staff of Green Balkans and partners.

As all animals, vultures also need every-day attention – care, food and water. It is often needed to bring the water or food from far away, which requires a lot of time and money!

Adoption is actually covering the financial maintenance of a particular bird for a given period of time. Therefore you only buy the breakfast of the vulture, while the care is secured by the vets of the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre and the staff of the project!

Cost: 20,5 eur / month

I have decided to become an adopter!
 

For seven years we need to import and release at least 48 Black Vultures and 60 Griffon Vultures. All of them are marked with standard ornithological and PVC rings and wing tags with three-digit codes to be able to tell them apart in the wild. Despite that, it is not nice to be called K01 or K1X, don’t you think?

We are offering you to name your “own” vulture, with a name of your choice! The donation itself is a one-time aid of fixed amount and once granted, you are free of other tasks.

You will get a special Naming Certificate and an invitation to take part in the release of your bird (in Vrachanski Balkan, Sinite kamani or Kotlenska Stara planina).

From then onwards, the bird will be known with its new name not only in our database, but also when we are sharing or publishing information on its further behavior and adaptation.

Value: 250 eur

Let me name a vulture!

Despite having marked all the birds released within our project with rings and wing tags to allow their easy identification,  the vultures sometimes make extremely long-distance voyages. Our birds have been spotted in Turkey, Italy and one even reached Poland!

The fitting of a transmitter is an extremely effective way to track the bird – it is not overloading or bothering it, yet it is sending precise information on its roundabouts directly to our project office! In addition to that, it is saving huge efforts and costs on locating the bird, while giving invaluable data on the preferred roosting sites, route, speed of flight, diurnal regime, etc. In the cases when the birds fall in distress (due to poaching, poisoning, exhaustion), these data can be of key significance for their timely rescue!

The donation is a one-time aid of fixed amount and once granted, you have no other responsibilities!

You will receive a special Certificate and an invitation to take part in the release of the bird from the aviary (in Vrachanski Balkan, Sinite kamani or Kotlenska Stara planina). Of course as a donor you will be the first to know what is going on with your bird!

The transmitters are new type, prototype Bulgarian elaboration, based on GPS / GSM technologies.

Your donation is not only going to help the vulture and us to collect more data on the bird’s life, but will also contribute to develop Bulgarian science!

As you have probably figured out, the reasons are mostly financial. Despite the fact that the "Bright Future for Black Vulture" LIFE14 NAT/BG/649 project funds the implementation of the project for seven years, the budget of the project has not provided for fitting of transmitters for all vultures which need to be released.

The supply of food and care for the vultures sometimes also reaches FAR ABOVE the provided budget figures. On the other hand, the rest of the funding is strictly allocated for other activities, such as meeting with local stakeholders, hunters; developing tourist routes; placing of signboards, etc., and would not allow for transferring funds from one item to the other.

Your donation will be included in the budget and the report which are due to the European Commission so your contribution will be reflected in all reporting documents. Your donation will be spent exactly for whatever you have indicated and you will have direct control on that!

Last but not least – this way you will contribute to promoting the values of sponsoring environmental causes, which is still pretty rare for our country.

In order to become a donor, you should select a “favorite”. There are male and female birds in each of the aviaries – Vrachanski Balkan, Sinite kamani – Grebenets and Kotlenska Stara planina.

As soon as you decide the sex of your bird and the preferred location, you can contact our team.

„Satisfaction” is the standard reply for this. In fact, it all depends on the point of view. Of course, you will contribute to the return of this magnificent species, thus helping the nature of Bulgaria. As an innovative initiative, the adoption programme is closely followed by media. Your example will therefore inspire many people and small help will turn into a great one!

..... and from a very friendly point of view, you will get the big THANK YOU! of the entire team and all the birds involved in the project, while becoming a historic part of Vultures Return in Bulgaria forever!