Eight griffon vultures, mostly young birds rescued this year, have been released from the rehabilitation center for griffon vultures in the village of Beli on the northern Adriatic island of Cres.

Griffon vultures are a strictly protected species and the only remaining carrion birds in Croatia. A hundred years ago, they nested throughout Croatia, from Mount Ucka to Dubrovnik, and today they only nest around the Kvarner Bay in northern Adriatic.

The rehabilitation centre rescues up to a dozen griffon vultures, and the visitor centre in Beli “also provides education on the rich biological diversity,” state agency Hina said.

The Grifon association, which does the bird ringing, has registered over 1,100 individual griffon vultures in Croatia over the past 32 years.

In early 2023, a new project will be launched, led by the local conservationist organization BIOM, together with a farming cooperative Otok Krk, the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and the state-owned HEP ODS power board company, intended to make the areas they live in more griffon-friendly.