Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) Γύπας - Γύπας ο πυρόχρους - Όρνιο - Cyprus

On the 5th & 6 of February 12 griffon vultures have been released in the western foothills of the Troodos Mountain in the Republic of Cyprus. The latest release is the last within the project GYPAS, a EU-funded cross-border cooperation project between Greece and Cyprus, that started in September 2011, and finished last year. The project was led by the Cyprus Game & Fauna Service, together with the Cyprus Department of Forests, BirdLife Cyprus, the Natural History Museum of the University of Crete, and the Municipality of Gortyna (Crete).

The birds now released were from the last group from Crete (10 birds), and 2 young born at Limassol Zoo (Cyprus), where a captive griffon pair has reproduced successfully in 2013 and 2014. Six of the released birds were tagged with a GPS-GSM device.

Overall, 25 Vultures have been released in Cyprus, 23 from Crete and 2 from Limassol Zoo, but three of the earlier released birds were recaptured since they were not adapting well to the wild – these were later sent to Israel following a request from the Israeli Nature & Parks Authority to reinforce the captive breeding facility there - the Israeli side will send some fledglings when the birds sent from Cyprus reproduce.