Monday, November 25, 2024, 12:33
The Department of Sustainability and Environment of the Government of Andalusia has managed to recover a young specimen of bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) in the Punta Entinas-Sabinar Natural Area.
The Environmental agents of the territorial delegation in Almería received the notice from those responsible for the Andalusian Strategy against Poison, from the same Department of Sustainability, with the location indicated by the bird's GPS transmitter, early last hour. Friday, November 22.
However, the Board explains in a note, “since it was a reed field within the flooded area of Punta Entinas-Sabinar, it was not until Saturday the 23rd in the morning, after three work shifts, when the Environmental agents , supported by technicians from the Environment and Water Agency and the Andalusian Strategy against Poison, managed to find the bearded vulture specimen.
As explained by Adrián Cobo, one of the members of the Gádor-Poniente biogeographic unit, “it was very difficult for us to find it, because it was in a flooded reedbed, where it is very difficult to enter and move around. But, in the end, the effort has been worth it, we have recovered it and it seems to be in good condition.
The species in Andalusia
Within the work of the Recovery and Conservation Plan for Necrophagous Birds promoted by the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment, last summer, three young bearded vultures were released for the first time in Sierra Nevada.
The one that has arrived in Almeria is called 'Veleta', it is a specimen born in Austria, and was introduced in the “hacking” that the Ministry of Sustainability has installed in Dílar (Granada).
The hacking system, carried out in high-altitude caves, is a technique that takes advantage of the philopatric instinct of the species to ensure that the released specimen assimilates the release area as its birthplace and thus increases the chances of it returning to it. to settle and reproduce.
The bearded vulture became extinct in Andalusia in the eighties of the last century. The Junta de Andalucía promotes, however, its reintroduction within the framework of the Recovery and Conservation Plan for Necrophagous Birds, for which feasibility studies were addressed, the selection of protected natural spaces where the releases would be carried out and breeding in captivity. of the species at the Cazorla Bearded Vulture Breeding Center.
Between 2006 and 2023, a total of 90 specimens equipped with GPS transmitters have been released in the Natural Parks of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas and Sierra de Castril.
Released bearded vultures are characterized by traveling long distances, selecting the large mountain ranges, from Andalusia to the Pyrenees, although they recurrently return to the natural spaces where they were released. Increased survival is an essential condition for establishing a reproductive population. The main known cause of mortality is poisoning.
For the Ministry of Sustainability, the fight against poison in the natural environment is one of its priorities, which is why it promoted the Andalusian Strategy against Poison, which works by obtaining information for its use as a management tool, developing informative actions to raise awareness and prevent use of poisons and also police actions to prosecute crime.
The work is bearing fruit and there are now eight breeding territories in the natural environment occupied by reintroduced specimens, in the Natural Parks of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas and Sierra de Castril. Last year chickens were born in five territories, of which two have managed to fly.
The delegate of Sustainability and Environment in Almería, Manuel de la Torre, has highlighted the great work of all the professionals of the Ministry who have participated in the rescue of the bearded vulture in our province: «We have a first-class team, with vocation of service to all Andalusians and committed to our natural heritage. These types of unique actions are what we disseminate, but behind it there is a constant and discreet effort every day of the year by agents and technicians of which we are very proud.
Related News :