Today the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) and its partners are happy to announce the success of the shipment of Anahita a live rare and endangered bird – Egyptian Vulture. It arrived in Prague from Beirut via Istanbul where it will stay for a while before it reaches the final destination to Bulgaria.

Anahita’s story of triumph started in September 2020, when the three-month-old tagged Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) left the Balkans on her first migration journey. Anahita, named after the ancient Persian goddess of fertility, water, healing, and wisdom, set off to a confident start. However, Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) staff watched with sinking hearts as the tag stopped transmitting for a while, before being moved to a location 300 meters away – a tell-tale sign that Anahita had probably been shot. After which SPNL’s swift action has led to the successful mission for recovering that magnificent creature. However, Anahita was imprinted with various scars of this ordeal. Sadly, Anahita was not able to fly again. As such, over one year later, Anahita will be returning to Bulgaria to be reintroduced in the breeding program, in which the Egyptian Vulture population can grow and hopefully lead to better outcomes than that undergone by Anahita.

Anahita with SPNL’s project officer Louis Junior Saad in Luc Hoffman Hima Home in Kayfoun before departure

This collaboration is one of the other steps the EV NewLIFE project, which is funded by the EU, is tackling to conserve and protect the endangered Egyptian Vulture species. Fourteen partners from three different continents, including SPNL and BSPB, are working hand in hand to ensure a safe passage along the African- Eurasian Flyway. Vultures, help to keep ecosystems healthy as they act as natural carcass recyclers, thus they are better known as nature’s cleanup crew, do the dirty work of cleaning up after death. They provide critically important ecosystem services and socio-economic benefits. Hence, reducing the need to incinerate thousands of tons of animal remains every year. However, Egyptian Vultures are still declining in some regions and are considered globally endangered. As Europe’s only long-distance migratory vulture, not only does it face threats in its breeding grounds, but also across its flyway from Europe to Africa. Egyptian Vultures, specifically have cultural ties dated back to thousands of years, within the Egyptian culture and Hieroglyphic letters.

Anahita is already in Prague in the zoo in the good hands of Anton Vaidl