Journalist from national and regional media visit Eastern Rhodopes as part of LIFE Vulture media activities

17 June 2019

Last week journalists from local and national media took part in 3-day media trip in Rhodope Mountains rewilding area as part of “Conservation of Black and Griffon Vultures in the Rhodope Mountains” LIFE project.

The LIFE Vultures team presented key places for observation, breeding and feeding of Griffon Vultures

The media representatives observed, photographеd and filmed some of the key species and wildlife of the Eastern Rhodopes and got introduced to the activities of the project within the frames of the project. During the visit the journalists visited some of the key project areas –  Studen kladenets and Madzharovo. The LIFE Vultures team presented key places for observation, breeding and feeding of Griffon Vultures, presented the media representatives with details of key conservation activities related to the preservation of these rare birds. Representatives of a number of national and regional media, including the Bulgarian National Radio, the Peika.bg tourist site, the TV Agro team, the regional site xnews.bg and a freelance journalist, participated in the journalism trip.

Numerous observations of Griffon Vultures, fallow and red deer accompanied the group as early as the first day of a journalistic trip. Representatives of the media travelled by boat to Studen Kladenets, where one of the largest concentrations of free roaming deer population in Europe, about 2000 animals, dwell.

During the trip, the participants met the project partners, some of whom are partnering some key  activities. During the visit the media representative were introduced to Rewilding Rhodopes continuing efforts and challenges regarding follow and red deer restocking and reintroduction activities. Time was spent to familiarize the media audience with the connection between the vultures and wild grazing animals and the importance of this activity for the maintenance of nutritional base for vultures. One of the key activities of the project, including the opportunities for the development of wildlife photography and ornithological tourism related to the monitoring and conservation of rare birds, were also discussed. The journalists met with local entrepreneurs supported within the frames of the project already conducting bird watching tours in the area. The Gabi tour operator have been active in the area for quite a while now – operating and running kayaking and bicycle tours for many years and promoting the region as a destination for alternative and rural tourism.

The visit was wrapped up with demonstration of the anti-poison team. Antipoison Dog Unit – Nikolay and the dog Bars carried out a demonstration – Bars unmistakably managed to find the hidden animal carcasses in the area witin few minutes

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