The female scavenger vulture from the Prague Zoo is a hope for the future of its kind
“There are less than thirty pairs of scavengers left in Bulgaria,” said Miroslav Bobek, the director of the Prague Zoo. “And our role in protecting this species is crucial. Colleague Antonín Vaidl coordinates the European breeding program of carrion-eating vultures and the Prague Zoo supplies birds to Bulgaria both for breeding and for release into the wild. In addition, it finances, for example, a ‘vulture restaurant’, we bought a car for the local security guards, etc. The success associated with Bojana is a great encouragement for us, “he added.
Bojana was one of the first four individuals released in the eastern Rhodopes by the late release method.
“Using this method, the reared birds are placed in an aviary until the following spring and only then released. Thus, they will not fly to Africa in the first, but only in the second year of life, when they are much stronger and more experienced, and their survival rate with this method increases from 30 to 75 percent, “explained bird reinforcement Antonín Vaidl. “To our delight, this was also confirmed in Bojana, who, after a stay in Africa, was the first to be bred in human care and a vulture released into Bulgarian nature returned,” he added.
Carnivorous vultures spend the first years of their lives in Africa. Bojana lived mainly in Chad, but in total she visited more than two dozen countries during her life. She returned to the eastern Rhodopes on May 4 this year – and she was also watched there by the Prague Zoo team at the beginning of September.
“Watching Bojana circling together with other vultures over the slopes near the feeding place meant one of my strongest professional experiences for me,” described the director of the Prague Zoo Miroslav Bobek. “The majestically sailing Bojana was a living answer to the question of why we put so much time and effort into our work,” he warned.
These days, Bojana is on his way to Africa again. The company is made by a male Pantalej, who was also released in 2018 and returned to Bulgaria this year three weeks after Bojana.
