Objective
This project's purpose is to re-establish a viable black vulture population in the Causses which is no longer dependent on food handouts. To do this, reinforcement of the population is to be continued (2 to 6 birds to be released annually), nesting sites are to be safeguarded and the risk of death by electrocution is to be reduced. To improve the vultures' nutritional self-sufficiency, plans are to obtain the administrative authorisations (ministerial decree) allowing livestock farmers to abandon carcasses to the birds. This would promote the integration of the black vulture and other carrion birds into the Causses pastoral ecosystem. The initial results obtained by the project will be presented during an international seminar on vultures to be held in 1999 at the project site.
The black vulture is threatened worldwide and in the European Union its populations are ranked as vulnerable, with numbers barely over a thousand pairs, essentially restricted to Spain. The species has fallen prey to direct attacks (shooting, poisoning) and to the degradation of its nesting sites (deforestation) as well as to the abandonment of traditional livestock grazing. The black vulture had disappeared from France, but now a project to re-introduce it is being implemented around the Gorges de la Jonte in the Causses (Massif Central), where sheep farming is very important. The first black vultures released in the Causses have now raised a young for the first time, in 1996. These birds, as well as the other carrion birds found here (griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture, red kite), are extremely dependent on the three feeding stations set up for their benefit by the project management.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
92500 Rueil-Malmaison
France