Rewilding efforts in the Rhodope Mountains expand to a new site
Rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria is about to take an exciting step forward, with the local rewilding team preparing to carry out a wide range of measures in a new area.
Rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria is about to take an exciting step forward, with the local rewilding team preparing to carry out a wide range of measures in a new area.
A second group of cinereous vultures has just been released in the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria. Reinforcing the population already present in the area, the birds will strengthen the local circle of life, help to restore wild nature, and deliver benefits to communities in and around the rewilding landscape.
In the Rhodope Mountains, agricultural subsidies are promoting the intensification of grazing, which is negatively impacting nature and local rewilding efforts. The local team are determined to keep advocating rural policies that allow people to make better use of the socio-economic benefits that rewilding can provide.
“The Circle of Life in the Rhodope Mountains”, a 12-minute documentary by Emmanuel Rondeau, tells the hopeful story of rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. At the beginning of November, a well-attended premiere in the town of Kardzhali helped the local rewilding team engage a wide range of stakeholders.
In the middle of June, a second group of cinereous vultures were translocated to the Rhodope Mountains rewilding landscape in Bulgaria. Their arrival and eventual release is the next step in a long-term programme to re-establish these ecologically important birds as a breeding species.
A long-term release programme means populations of red and fallow deer in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains are gradually recovering. As the landscape becomes wilder and healthier, there are benefits for local communities too.
Populations of vultures and other raptors in the Balkans still face a range of threats, with illegal poisoning top of the list. The reintroduction of cinereous vultures in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria throws a spotlight on these threats, but also offers hope for the future.
Bulgaria’s Rewilding Rhodopes team were overjoyed to record the births of four bison calves in May and June this year – the highest number of calves to have been born in a single season since bison were reintroduced to Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains in 2019.
Cinereous vultures – Europe’s largest and heaviest raptor – have been brought back to Southern Bulgaria, with 17 birds from Spain having been transported all the way to the rewilding landscape of the Rhodope Mountains.
A new partnership between Rewilding Europe and German shoemaker Wildling Shoes will see rewilding efforts scaled up in Europe, generating wide-ranging benefits for nature and people. The collaboration will kick off with support for rewilding actions in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding area.