📋 Tender Overview
Start Date: 01/01/2023
End Date: 31/12/2027
Total Eligible Budget: 2,159,590 €
EU Contribution: 1,295,751 €
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a large scavenging bird of prey from the Accipitridae family. The species is protected by a range of legislation and international conventions, including the Birds Directive and the EU regulation of trade of fauna and flora. In Croatia, the griffon vulture is considered to be endangered as it disappeared from most of its breeding range there during the 20th century. The last breeding pairs disappeared from the Croatian mainland in 2003 (National Park Paklenica) and the entire native breeding population is now restricted to a few islands in the Kvarnerski otoci Special Protection Area: Cres, Krk, Prvic and Plavnik. Here the species breeds on cliffs directly above the sea which is a unique feature, not observed in any other countries of its breeding range.
The current breeding population is assessed at 110-130 pairs and it forms a connection between the breeding populations of the Alps (Italy) and those of the Balkans (e.g. Serbia). Although the population is currently considered stable, the species faces multiple threats in the area which, all together, could have detrimental effects on its small population size. An example of this is an unintentional poisoning event that took place on the island of Rab in 2004, where 21 griffon vultures were killed by consuming poisoned bait intended for golden jackals. Other problems facing the species range from lack of food (due to an ongoing decrease in extensive sheep farming and livestock breeding on the islands) to accidents (electrocution, collisions with power infrastructure), disturbance at their breeding colonies and indirect poisoning via lead. To secure truly stable breeding conditions for the species and support a future recolonisation of the Croatian mainland, it is important to tackle the major threats in the last remaining breeding area urgently and simultaneously.
