The male is tagged with wing tags KOJ, was known as Kodza, yet our veterinarians added the name Emil. He was released in the area of Kotel in 2010 within the Vultures Return in Bulgaria Project. Later and completely voluntarily, Emo entered back into the adaptation aviary and was kept for the winter and re-released in March 2011. Shortly before Christmas of 2011, the bird was caught due to a severe wing fracture, probably caused by collision with a power line. The fracture was bad, the bone fragments sticking out of the wound and the veterinarians of the Rescue Centre were helpless to rescue the wing. We discussed amputation to prevent further infection. The wound however almost miraculously healed, with the fragments still sticking out. To help Emo keep his balance and as his wound was not pecked by the other vultures, we decided to keep him as he was. After being sure he was fine and eating well, we forwarded him to the vulture adaptation aviary near Rakitna, maintained by our colleagues from FWFF. In March 2014 the wind made the entire aviary collapse and can you imagine everyone’s surprise seeing Kodja Emo… fly!... Despite the open fracture and badly damaged wing, our hero could soar and use the thermals. Unfortunately, as we expected, the fracture impeded the landing and take off of the bird and during one of the attempts to catch him, the team of FWFF helplessly watched him fall into the Struma River. Our story does not however end in the cold waters of Struma. Just a few days later, Emo once again miraculously appeared and was finally trapped in July 2014. There was obviously a reason for Kodza Emo to survive, as he found… love.
The partner of our Kodza Emo is called Sanie, by our Turkish colleagues, while we added Nadezhda (Hope). She was released by the team of Green Balkans from the vulture adaptation aviary above Sliven, also within the Vultures Return Project. The bird flew freely and reached Turkey, where it was shot, yet found alive and treated at the Veterinary Faculty of the Istanbul University. Our colleagues helped us so we managed to get Sanie back to Bulgaria. Despite the treatment and rehabilitation of both our veterinarians and our Turkish colleagues, Sanie-Nadezhda could not be released and was therefore forwarded to the aviary of FWFF near Rakitna. Here Sanie met Emo and laid her first egg, which, unfortunately, could not hatch. This is not a great deal as young, unexperienced birds often fail to hatch their first eggs also in nature. We however hope their next attempt will be more successful!
This is why we transported the pair of young vultures to the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Stara Zagora, where they will be kept in the newly refurbished aviaries built within the Vultures Back to LIFE14 NAT/BG/649 Project, hoping to soon tell you about their very first successfully hatched young.
We are very grateful to our colleagues from FWFF for this opportunity and their trust!
New year – new luck we say, and our vultures welcomed it at a new place. We hope this year brings them success!
For more information, please contact:
Elena Stoeva – Project Manager LIFE14 NAT/BG/649,
phone: +359 887574699, е-mail: etilova@greenbalkans.org
