{"id":17136,"date":"2021-06-10T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/?p=17136"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:47:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:47:01","slug":"bearded-vultures-bavaria-and-wally-successfully-released-in-the-berchtesgaden-national-park-in-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/bearded-vultures-bavaria-and-wally-successfully-released-in-the-berchtesgaden-national-park-in-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearded Vultures “Bavaria” and “Wally” successfully released in the Berchtesgaden National Park in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presenting one of the Bearded Vultures \u00a9 Hansruedi Weyrich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 10th of June will be a milestone in German nature conservation as two Bearded Vultures were released into the wild in Berchtesgaden National Park (BNP)<\/a>, in the southwest corner of Bavaria, more than 140 years after their extinction in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing for the release took a lot of effort<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day dawned grey and misty, and you could see the tension and apprehension in the faces of our colleagues from the Bavarian Nature Conservation Association LBV<\/a> and in the staff from BNP, who got up early to arrange the setup and all the logistics of the event. During the day before, heavy thunderstorms and downpours drenched the region. But little by little, the clouds cleared, and when the first guests arrived at the BNP’s information house in Ramsau, near the famous and picturesque Hintersee lake, there was full sunshine \u2014 a good omen for the event that followed up, and for the reintroduction of this species in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La\u00a0Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF)\u00a0<\/a>provided the two birds to this new release site, which will contribute to the Alpine reintroduction project. In particular,\u00a0releases in Berchtesgaden will strengthen the eastern Alpine population<\/a>, which is growing less quickly than the ones in the central and western Alps.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The two Bearded Vultures when they were a few days old \u00a9 Pakillo Rodriguez\/ VCF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The two Bearded Vultures – both females –\u00a0hatched in Spain<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0Bearded Vulture Captive Breeding Centre of Guadalent\u00edn<\/a>, managed by the VCF following an agreement with the\u00a0Junta de Andaluc\u00eda<\/a>, and were named “Bavaria” and “Wally” by a local school and the readers of a national newspaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Welcoming the guests and presenting the birds \u00a9 VCF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of people welcomed the arrival of the birds that spent a few nights in Nuremberg zoo (a partner in the VCF coordinated Bearded Vulture Captive Breeding Network<\/a>), including the Bavarian ministers of environment Thorsten Glauber, and of agriculture, Michaela Kaniber, as well as by the director of the National Park Roland Baier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come to release the Bearded Vultures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team then took the birds in wooden boxes mounted on rucksacks up the steep mountain trail to the hacking cave (approximately 6×20 m in size at 1300 m altitude), where they will spend the next 25 days or so before fledging. There, the VCF’s scientific coordinator Franziska L\u00f6rcher put the GPS tags on them, that will allow for the close monitoring of their movements once they fledge, and the birds were left alone, with plenty of food for the next days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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