Poisoning, vultures' biggest threat worldwide, recently led to the loss of several vultures, some considered Critically Endangered. What makes things worse is that adult birds were affected in some cases, which caused adverse effects on breeding populations.

In west Africa, 50 Hooded Vultures were recently found dead in Guinea-Bissau, one year after 2,000+ Critically Endangered vultures were poisoned to death in the country, which marked the biggest ever mass vulture mortality event in the world. Further east, two adult Egyptian Vultures died from poisoning in Chad and Ethiopia and will unfortunately not return to their Bulgarian breeding grounds this spring. Moving to Europe, two Cinereous Vultures, members of the only remaining breeding colony of the species in the Balkans, lost their lives due to a recent wildlife poisoning incident that transpired in Dadia Forest, Greece. While in western central Turkey, a suspected mass poisoning incident killed seven Cinereous Vultures last week, most of which were likely starting to breed or about to lay eggs, meaning that their loss caused a significant blow to the species' national breeding population.

After nearly wiping out the Gyps vulture populations of South Asia two decades ago, veterinary drug diclofenac officially kills the first vulture in Europe — a fledgling Cinereous Vulture.

This incident proves that diclofenac, which is toxic to vultures, can enter the food chain of these scavenging birds in Europe. Safe alternatives to diclofenac exist, notably meloxicam, a viable and effective option for treating livestock. The VCF asks Spanish authorities to release data on diclofenac use, to ascertain relative impact and risk, and eventually consider a nationwide ban. Will Spain and the EU finally step up and take action?

First evidence of a vulture killed by veterinary diclofenac in Spain – will the Spanish government and the EU act after this smoking gun?

Since the early 2000s, scientists have been monitoring Egyptian Vultures with remote tracking devices to study their movements, behaviour and mortality. A new study conducted by 38 researchers from 12 countries, including from the VCF, compiled and analyzed the satellite-tracking data of 220 individual Egyptian Vultures travelling across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The results identify when, where, and why Egyptian Vultures are dying and what implications this may have for their conservation.

We here at the VCF also follow the movements of several vultures as part of different projects. You can track the movements of all the European vulture species we tagged within our different projects and regions by visiting our online public maps. 

Bearded Vulture online maps
Cinereous Vulture online maps
Egyptian Vulture online maps.
Griffon Vulture online maps