The Egyptian vulture “traveled” to the borderline between Greece and Turkey and Bulgaria

19.08.2014

• Home
• Useful information
• The Egyptian vulture “traveled” to the borderline between Greece and Turkey and Bulgaria

We carried out presentations on "the prevention and detection of crimes against wildlife" focusing on the rare birds of prey in the region of Thrace, and particularly on the Egyptian vulture, at the customs and border checkpoints of Evros and Rodopi prefectures during the last five months. Thirteen custom officers and twenty-five policemen attended the presentation in Kipoi, Kastanies, Ormenio, Kyprinos and Nymfaia-Komotini. Most knew the Griffon vulture and the Black vulture and the few who knew the Egyptian vulture originated from villages close to the remaining nests and have heard that the nests are monitored and guarded.
We referred illegal actions such as poaching, poisoning, illegal trapping, illegal collection of eggs or chicks, while focused on the illegal international trade of eggs, chicks and adult birds of prey. Although the relevant authorities have no archives with corresponding cases of illegal trade, we believe that this is due to inadequate monitoring mechanism than the complete absence of such cases. During the meetings we learned about an incident of exotic species' traffic in Evros custom. Most of the staff did not know specific information about the traffic of raptors. We hope that our presentations will be useful and in the future the checking for rare birds of prey will be integrated more systematically in the priorities of customs in the area.
We thank the officers who hosted the seminars at their own working place.

Back