As part of the LIFE Vultures project, experts from across Europe gathered in Dadia National Park recently to discuss the poisoning of vultures by veterinary drugs such as diclofenac. Their discussions will hopefully enable better decision-making in vulture conservation efforts going forwards, and boost efforts to increase black and griffon vulture populations in the Balkans.

Monitoring of raptor species in the Faia Brava Nature Reserve and Côa Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) shows griffon vultures have made a dramatic return to the Western Iberia rewilding area since the 1990s. This bodes well for ongoing rewilding efforts here.

Despite its catastrophic impact on Asian vulture populations in the 1990s, veterinary diclofenac is still used and marketed in countries such as Spain and Italy. The Vulture Conservation Foundation, a partner of Rewilding Europe in the LIFE Vultures project in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding area, has launched a campaign to ban its use in Europe.