We have written you countless times about vultures, the need to protect and conserve them, about their plight, the challenges and the work that the VCF is doing towards saving them – All Together for Vultures, as our motto says. This time though, this is about you, about us, about humanity.

We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, or at least the best you can considering the difficult circumstances we all live in. You are most probably locked at home, with only the most essential outings done. You and we found ourselves deep into a new world, full of fear, and now not only of COVID-19 but of the economic crisis already happening across the globe.

But All Together we will overcome this. One issue this global crisis brought home in very clear terms is our interdependence – COVID19 knows no borders, no races, no wallets, no social groups. Suddenly you are dependent on your neighbour, on the bus driver, on the supermarket cashier, on the courageous doctors and nurses that are in the front line of the fight against the virus. Like we have been saying in our work, the plight of vultures depends on your actions, your choices, your attitudes. Now our own destiny depends on the collective will and actions.

Please remember this next time we talk about vultures, please also remember this next time some communities are plagued by conflict, homelessness, or poverty - remember the interdependence and the need for kindness and gratitude when all you see around is darkness.

Two final words. One for our elders – most vulnerable in this period. Our society often disregards them, yet they have so much still to give us; and one for the importance of science, medicine and biological research in our daily lives. The whole world is now waiting anxiously for epidemiologists, doctors and nurses to do their work, cure the ill, and bring us a vaccine or answers to cope with this pandemic. How often have we cut budgets, neglected services, ignored pleas and spent money elsewhere?

COVID19 obviously impacted our work. We have cancelled several meetings and workshops we were organising in March-April, and most of our staff are working from home. We have also developed contingency plans for the staff involved in the captive-breeding of Bearded Vultures in Guadalentín and Vallcalent, both in Spain, one of the most affected countries, to minimize contagion while at the same time securing the essential work. Bearded Vultures in captivity need to be fed, while their chicks need to be checked, and sometimes adopted, eggs need to be incubated artificially, etc. The COVID19 crisis hit right in the middle of the breeding season. You can read more on what we are doing to adapt to COVID19 here.

We will continue to monitor the situation and adapt accordingly. Most important, we follow the authorities' recommendations and play our small part to avoid more contagion and spreading. But we are keeping working, and among other things, we keep publishing exciting news about vultures in our website, and during the next couple of weeks will have LIVE streaming with our staff, so if you have some time, please keep checking our website.

Keep safe and in good spirits. All together, we will overcome this.

Alex, Alice, Angel, David, Eleni, Francisco, Franziska, José M., José T., Jovan, Julian, Louis, Margarita & Uros