64 vultures were returned to the wild on Monday in the Negev Mountain area.
The vultures were captured for monitoring, marking, and transmission, as part of the activity of the Spreading Wings project, in collaboration with Dr. Or Spiegel’s laboratory, Tel Aviv University.
The Nature and Parks Authority said in a statement: “We wish the vultures a long and beautiful life, and for ourselves that we will be able to reduce the harm to them this year and we will have many sights of vultures flying in the sky of the country. May you be signed and sealed in the book of life.”
In 2012, the vultures population reached an unprecedented and dangerous low. This was reflected in the winter and summer counts carried out by the Spreading Wings project: 110 and 146 were counted then respectively. The protection and restoration efforts are beginning to bear fruit. In the winter and summer of 2020, 184 and 206 vultures respectively were counted in Israel. Likewise in reproduction: in 2012 the number of nests decreased to 33, while in 2020 it increased to 48.
