This is, in fact, a part of the every-day life of the staff of the Rescue Centre.
So, after brief clarifications and mid-night exchange of emails the following became clear: the bird was not an eagle, but a Griffon Vulture, released within the Vultures Return in Bulgaria Project. It was not found by Daniel (who turned out to be a Banat Bulgarian), but by a friend of a friend J. The vulture was not exactly in Timisoara, as we initially thought, but in a small village called Unip, accessible through a dirt road.
Without losing more time, the next morning we headed to Romania.
The welcome was warm and exciting. We met Daniel and Alex. Alex was the one who actually forwarded to us the information about the vulture found. It turned out that people from the village of his parents had found the bird and kept it while looking for help.
The next morning we went to collect “our” vulture. Our arrival in the small village raised a lot of eyebrows. We were warmly welcomed by the rescuers. They quickly explained that they had fed the odd guest with a chicken each day. After that, they showed us the bird, comfortably fit in a rabbit pen. Of course, to make things even more picturesque, it started raining. After a short but fierce fight, the vulture was placed in a pet porter and moved to the car, ready for the trip back.
It was time for goodbye, we thanked one another and presented some small gifts of gratitude. After time we started our journey to Bulgaria.
We will skip the details around the trip, the smell and the attitude of a vulture, which has just been fed. What is important is that the vulture was saved and we found new friends of Green Balkans outside Bulgaria, who also became a part of the adventure called Vultures Return.
As for the vulture - it is weak and emaciated, but has tremendous appetite, what gives us a reason to believe that it will soon be ready to go back to one of the adaptation aviaries of the vulture restoration project.
We are very grateful to all who got involved in this rescue operation and became a part of the Vultures Return in Bulgaria!
For more information, please contact:
Elena Kmetova
Project Manager Vultures Return in Bulgaria
phone: + 359 885 219 557; ekmetova@greenbalkans.org
Dr. Hristina Klisurova, Veterinarian
Wildlife Rescue Centre
e-mail: hhristova@greenbalkans.org; mobile phone: + 359 886570053
