Three lammergeier chicks are released in the Tinença de Benifassà Natural Park.

The Conselleria de Medio Ambiente, Agua, Infraestructuras y Territorio has participated in the release of three baby bearded vultures in the town of Bel, in the Natural Park of Tinença de Benifassà. They are three females born in captivity in European zoos and in a breeding center in Sierra de Cazorla. The action is part of the project of reintroduction of the Bearded Vulture of the Generalitat and have involved the municipalities of Rossell, Vallibona, Castell de Cabres and Pobla de Benifassà, as well as the non-governmental organization Vulture Conservation Foundation, as reported by the Generalitat in a statement. The general director of Natural and Animal Environment, Raúl Mérida, has indicated that the action “is part of a series of releases, of which this is the seventh”. In this sense, the general director thanked the work of the environmental agents of the Conselleria in the whole process. The staff has collaborated in monitoring the adaptation of the new population, has taken the Bearded Vulture chicks to the nest and has checked the correct functioning of the monitoring system of the three animals. Mérida has highlighted the “bet” for the Natural Park of Tinença de Benifassà for the reintroduction of the species, “where it is expected that by 2025, when they reach adulthood, they can reproduce and nest in these places”. Also, the general director has argued that this action “will reduce the risk of global extinction of the species and help to finish weaving a coordinated European network of conservation projects, after using as a target an emblematic species such as the bearded vulture”.

Territorial settlement

In October 2023, after six years of releases in the Tinença de Benifassà, the first signs of territorial settlement of bearded vultures were documented, which were finally confirmed in winter. Both the Pyrenean population of bearded vulture, the only one of wild origin in continental Europe, and the Alpine population, the only two viable from the demographic point of view, have increased their population size almost exponentially since the first censuses of the species were made in the early 70s, as well as after the reintroduction of specimens in the Alps in the last three decades. The bearded vulture is a species classified as endangered in the National Catalogue of Threatened Species. Internationally, it is also included in the list of priority species for conservation in Europe.

Source:

https://castellonplaza.com/sueltan-tres-crias-quebrantahuesos-parque-natural-tinenca-benifassa