PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List and is included in Annex I of the European Birds Directive and Appendix II of the Bern, Bonn and CITES conventions. The populations of the species are declining all over the world for a variety of reasons. In Europe, the species has seen a severe long-term decline (>50% over the last three generations) because of a strong decrease in the breeding rate and an increase in the adult mortality rate, due to several factors associated with habitat quality, disturbance and persecution.
In Italy, the species is close to extinction as its breeding distribution is restricted to three southern regions (Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily), where only eight pairs were counted in 2015. An endemic non-migratory subspecies of high conservation value, Neophron percnopterus majorenis, lives on the Canary Islands and its population is apparently increasing, but human-related mortality is still affecting its demography. Furthermore, pairs are relatively few (about 60) and concentrated on the island of Fuerteventura.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE EGYPTIAN VULTURE project aimed to improve the conservation status of two Egyptian vulture populations, in Italy and the Canary Islands, by defining and spreading best practices for captive-breeding and restocking programmes.
In particular, the main goals of the project were:
- avoiding the extinction of the Egyptian vulture in Italy;
- increasing the demographics of both populations;
- expanding the breeding ranges;
- making the migration of Egyptian vultures in Italy safer by mitigating the impact of dangerous medium-tension power lines;
- sharing best practices for conserving the Egyptian vulture in Europe;
- increasing the knowledge of restricting factors affecting population dynamics.
RESULTS
The project successfully achieved the improvement of the conservation status of the population in the Canary Islands, as demonstrated by a significant increase of the population in the last six years: 311 individuals counted in 2017, 452 in 2023 (+ 45.33%). The number of territorial pairs increased as well, from 67 in 2017 to 107 in 2023 (+ 59.7%). The species has expanded also in Lanzarote Island where the number of pairs increased from 6 in 2018 to 10 in 2023. In Italy, despite the release of 28 individuals of Egyptian vulture in the period 2018-2023 and the discovery of a new nesting couple in Calabria during the monitoring, the population trend remained stable for the last six years, with 2-4 breeding pairs counted in the Peninsula and 6-9 pairs in Sicily. In 2018-2023 a high breeding success was registered in the Peninsula, with an average of 1.6 and a total of 26 juveniles fledged.
Other main achievements encompass:
- a reduction in the main human-related mortality factors in key areas, namely, electrocution and poaching during migration in Italy. Illegal shooting and human disturbance were tackled by way of surveillance of strategic sites for the species and especially focused on the migratory route in western Sicily, a renowned black spot for poaching. The Anti-Poison Dog Units (ADU) of the Carabinieri Forestali in Italy and the ADU based in Fuerteventura (created with this LIFE project) performed inspections in breeding areas and release sites in order to prevent the risk of poisoning. In Italy, 1 096 elements of the medium-voltage power lines were insulated (500 were expected at the start) and 220 pylons were put to safety in the Canary Islands, leading to a significant reduction of the risk of electrocution;
- the establishment of a surveillance and monitoring network at the nesting sites, along the migratory route and at the sites of release. This network involves beneficiaries of the project (ISPRA in Italy and GESPLAN in Canarias), the CERM Association, Comando unità forestali, ambientali e agroalimentari (CUFAA), volunteers, the Antipoisoning Dog Units (ADUs) of the Carabinieri Forestali and those established with the project in the Canary Islands, as well as local guards. This network is crucial for the annual census of the species, for monitoring of the breeding success of the pairs, for mitigating poaching against Egyptian vultures and many other bird species, for detecting causes of disturbance for breeding, for checking that sensitive areas for the species are poison free (release sites, the surrounding of feeding sites, nesting sites and sites frequented by the released vultures), for finding potential and real threats to the Egyptian vulture and relevant black spots (electrocution, shooting, wind turbines);
- the activation of supplementary feeding points. Food supplies activated in Italy and the Canary Islands turned out to be a very effective intervention to sustain the populations of necrophagous birds;
- the improvement of the methodology used in captive breeding and the release of captive-bred individuals based on the expertise of the CERM Association. The captive breeding of the Egyptian vulture in Italy enabled to release 28 young specimens in Southern Italy in the period 2018-2023. The hacking method, which includes the release of juveniles at the age of about 90 days, proved to be the most successful release technique, with higher survival rate in the first six months after release (50% vs 35.71% of delayed release). Nine released juveniles successfully reached the wintering grounds in the sub-Saharan Africa (mainly Mali and Niger).
In the project area, a notable result was achieved with the modification of the Natura 2000 Standard Data Form of the SPA Laghetti di Preola (Sicily) including the enlargement of the SPA border, which was not planned.
Replicability and transferability were promoted by participation in many workshops and congresses, by sharing the results and lessons learnt with many relevant stakeholders in the framework of the project final congress, and by spreading several information products. Among the latter, two booklets were released, namely, the “Manual for the management of captive Egyptian vultures and release of captive-bred individuals” and the "Handbook for mitigating the risk of electrocution for birds".
