More than forty scientists from twelve organizations from Bulgaria, Greece and Spain gathered last week in Ivaylovgrad, Bulgaria, to officially launch the LIFE cross-border project "Restoration of the Cinereous Vulture population and its food chain in the Bulgarian-Greek border area". This five-year ambitious initiative is co-funded by the European Union's LIFE programme and Rewilding Europe.

At the meeting, which was hosted by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) as the lead organization, were presented the project objectives and activities of each partner and also provided an opportunity for the partners to get to know each other and develop their cooperation.

During the next five years (2024-2029), project team will implement multiple actions in the cross-border region of Rhodope, such as a) release of Cinereous Vultures from Spain to Bulgaria to create a new colony in the Bulgarian Rhodope, b) protection of the colony of the species in the National Park of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest with artificial nests, c) increasing the availability of food through the release of red deer in Evros, d) preparing a study about the wild horse population in Nestos and activities to improve the water source availability for horses, e) promoting the use of lead-free ammunition, f) recording dead birds and bats at wind farms in Thrace using the Anti-poison Dog Unit, g) monitoring of threats such as poisoned baits by operating additional Anti-poison Dog Unitsin Evros and Nestos in cooperation with local Hunting Associations  (Orestiada and Stavroupolis), an action that will also assist in monitoring of the illegal hunting, h) promoting measures to prevent damage from wild mammals to farmers, livestock farmers and hunters.

SPBT will carry out the study to record dead birds and bats from collision at wind farms in Thrace and will work with the forestry services involved in the project to jointly patrol poisoned bait incidents with its detection unit, handler Elzbieta Kret and the trained dog, Dalton.