Rabat – After a 40-year absence, the Griffon Vulture is once more breeding in Moroccan wilderness, thanks to the efforts of Morocco’s Water and Forestry Department
Morocco’s Water and Forestry Department undertook the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus reintroduction program in partnership with GREPOM/Birdlife Maroc in 2017. The aim is to reestablish the vulture species in Morocco’s natural environment after nearly half a century’s absence, reports Bird Life International.
“It is a real pleasure to see Griffon Vultures mating and breeding for the very first time at Jbel Moussa,” said Khadija Bourass, the Executive Director of GREPOM/Birdlife Maroc. Bourass added that “Griffon Vultures had been breeding in Morocco until the 1980s, but known colonies left and the species most likely disappeared from the country thereafter.”
When the program began in 2017, the Water and Forestry Department released the first five vultures into the wild. Since then, the department, in cooperation with several partners, has intensified its efforts to reintroduce the species into Morocco’s wilderness.
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In May 2020, the department teamed up with GREPOM/BirdLife Maroc to open the Vulture Rehabilitation Centre on the summit of Mount Jbel Moussa, located only a few kilometers West of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. The center plays host to the Griffon Vultures’ reintroduction program, through which distressed vultures are rescued during their annual migration, and are settled in specialized facilities until they recover.
“Our next challenge is to observe the rate of integration of these vultures in the wild, successful breeding, and ability to survive and search for food outside the reintroduction site,” noted Rachid El Khamlichi, the head of the Vulture Rehabilitation Centre.
“Even though we need to celebrate the success achieved so far, our aim is to ensure the sustainability of colony survival in the medium and long term,” he added.
