VULTURE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION (VCF)
09/07/2009
The fusion of the Foundation for Conservation of Bearded Vultures (FCBV) with the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation (BVCF) shall face old and new challenges and threats for the future to conserve the populations of all four vulture species throughout Europe and beyond. The name of the new foundation is Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF).
Wassenaar/Majorca/Vienna/Paris/Frankfurt “The conservation of vultures has a long history in Europe. In 1978, experts decided to breed and reintroduce Bearded vultures to the Alpine mountain ecosystem. After 30 years of efforts we have reintroduced over 150 birds, and 15 pairs of Bearded vultures are breeding again in the Alps”, stated Michel Terrasse, president of the Foundation for Conservation of Bearded Vultures (FCBV).
“Nevertheless, we are facing old challenges threatening the new reintroduced vulture populations as well as the still existing populations of all four vulture species of Europe in their original habitats”, added Winfried Walter, President of the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation (BVCF).
To mitigate threats such as illegal use of poison, direct persecution, loss of breeding habitats and loss of food resources as well as more recent problems like electrocution of the birds at electric power lines and collision at wind farms, by the ecological unsound development of mountain ecosystems or new upcoming infectious diseases, the both vulture conservation foundations have decided to merge into a single new entity: the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF).
The merged foundation will continue with the successful work of its two founding organizations and strives to coordinate actions for all four European vulture species: the Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), the Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).