A bearded vulture dies for the first time in Spain hit by a wind turbine.

Technicians of the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture and nature protection agents of the Government of Aragon find the mutilated carcass of the female ‘Masía’.

The FCQ, after the authorization of the EU LIFE Unit, had suspended the project in Maestrazgo after verifying the high risk of collision with the wind farms. Technicians of the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture (FCQ) and nature protection agents of the Government of Aragon have found the mutilated carcass of the Bearded Vulture Masía under the blades of one of the wind turbines of the Refollas wind complex, located in Castellón. Specifically, the body appeared in the Teruel municipality of Luco de Bordón, just 15 meters from the border with Castellón and 40 meters from the wind turbine. According to official records, the managers of these facilities are the companies RENOMAR and ACCIONA, responsible for the management and maintenance of the wind farm. Early today, the forensic team of the Wildlife Recovery Center of the Government of Aragon confirmed the death of Masía due to severe polytraumatisms. The satellite beacon carried by the specimen, which was monitored daily by the FCQ, alerted of an anomaly of activity that made them suspect that Masía had suffered an accident. When the professionals arrived at the site, they could only confirm the death of the bearded vulture, which showed obvious signs of impact. This is the first time in Spain that a lammergeier has been killed by a wind turbine. According to the FCQ, Masía ‘s death is evidence of “the deadly impact that ill-conceived wind complexes have on Spanish biodiversity“. The organization, which manages the European LIFE project, is already preparing to file a complaint with the Teruel Environmental Prosecutor’s Office. According to Gerardo Báguena, director of the reintroduction project,“while companies invest huge amounts of money in large self-promotion campaigns to convince society of the sustainability of the wind energy production process, the facts show that the reality is different: the daily death of hundreds of animals in Spain, deaths that occur anonymously and are only evidenced when there are beacons with satellite technology such as those used in the monitoring of endangered species”. The bearded vulture, extinct in much of Europe, is listed as “endangered” in Spain’s National Catalogue of Threatened Species. The FCQ, in collaboration with the autonomous communities and the MITERD, through the EU LIFE programs, is working on its recovery in the Picos de Europa, the Sierra de Gredos and the Sierra del Maestrazgo. In autumn 2023, they were forced to suspend the reintroduction project in the Teruel region after observing and documenting that the wind deployment underway was invading areas with a high density of large gliding birds, such as griffon vultures, golden eagles and Bonelli’s eagles, transforming a high quality mountain habitat into an area incompatible with the survival of large birds of prey. The suspension of the project in Teruel also affects an important battery of social actions aimed at promoting mountain sheep farming with the Ojinegra breed, through the Probiodiversidad national guarantee brand, which was intended to promote the differentiated sale of production, creating a new market model together with local farmers and cooperatives.

Masía had been released in Maestrazgo in July 2022 together with the male Sabino. Only four months later, Sabino died electrocuted on a power line. With the death, today, of Masía, the last lammergeier that flew over the skies of Teruel disappears. According to Báguena, ” the current wind deployment in Spain in areas of great ecological value, without the relevant technological measures to reduce bird mortality, jeopardizes the efforts invested by European and national institutions, research centers and NGOs in the recovery of endangered species. Facts like the ones we denounce today abort dozens of years of effort, commitment and monitoring in the recovery and protection of Spanish biodiversity”.