A Female Cinereous Vulture with an Egg is One of the Recent Poisonings in the Vicinities of Ticha Village
17.03.2022One of the Cinereous Vultures that died in the mass poisoning near Ticha several days ago was a female with an egg! That was revealed during the necropsy. The veterinarians at the centre performed necropsies on four Cinereous and one Griffon Vulture carcasses to collect material for the toxicological analysis. All of them were victims of the unprecedented encroachment on wildlife. During the necropsies, the veterinary specialists o came across another fearsome sight.
The vulture Vratsa was in the process of becoming a mother this spring! An egg was found in her body! This finding caused yet another additional blow against our efforts to bring the species back to Bulgaria, as it becomes clear that not only have, we lost four precious birds, but a potential family has been lost too.
Vratsa arrived from Spain in 2019 and she was released in the Vratsa Balkan Nature Park in 2020. Until now, we were not aware that she was breeding. The two remaining adult Cinereous Vultures have also not been part of breeding pairs.
Together with the samples from the four dead Cinereous Vultures, based on the decree of the police officer investigating the case, samples were taken from the Common Buzzard, the two jackals and the two shepherd dogs found in the area of the incident. Samples were also taken from a Griffon Vulture found dead 6 km from the poisoning incident to determine its cause of death and investigate if it’s connected to the poisoning incident in Ticha. All samples will be sent simultaneously to laboratories in Bulgaria and Spain to identify the substance that caused the animals’ deaths.
The vulture Vratsa was in the process of becoming a mother this spring! An egg was found in her body! This finding caused yet another additional blow against our efforts to bring the species back to Bulgaria, as it becomes clear that not only have, we lost four precious birds, but a potential family has been lost too.
Vratsa arrived from Spain in 2019 and she was released in the Vratsa Balkan Nature Park in 2020. Until now, we were not aware that she was breeding. The two remaining adult Cinereous Vultures have also not been part of breeding pairs.
Together with the samples from the four dead Cinereous Vultures, based on the decree of the police officer investigating the case, samples were taken from the Common Buzzard, the two jackals and the two shepherd dogs found in the area of the incident. Samples were also taken from a Griffon Vulture found dead 6 km from the poisoning incident to determine its cause of death and investigate if it’s connected to the poisoning incident in Ticha. All samples will be sent simultaneously to laboratories in Bulgaria and Spain to identify the substance that caused the animals’ deaths.
