• The Ministry of Interior and the District Prosecutor's Office in Targovishte have been informed of the criminal act, the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Regional Inspectorate for Environmental Protection - Shumen remain ready to assist

Another case of a shot specimen of the black vulture (Aegypius monachus) in Bulgaria is being investigated. The corpse was found in the area of the village of Zelena Morava, Omurtag Municipality, Targovishte District. This is the fifth case of a shot black vulture since the beginning of the species' recovery in 2018. The death of the bird was established by a team of the non-governmental organization "Wild Flora and Fauna Fund (WFFF)", based on a signal from the satellite transmitter from the MM ring, with which the bird was marked and named Dobrudzha by the association's team.

During the on-site visit, the dead bird was found near an asphalt road, on which a dog was found hit by a car. The initial version of the FDFF team is that this was a road accident and the bird was probably hit by a car while trying to feed on the corpse of the dog that had been hit on the road. Given the apparent lack of a crime at first glance, the Ministry of Interior was not notified, and the remains of the body were sent for additional examination and analysis to the “Green Balkans” Wildlife Rescue Center in Stara Zagora. The X-ray image found 15 bullets in the bird’s body, which clearly means that it was the subject of a criminal act – shooting.

The act constitutes intentional killing with a firearm and is a crime under the Criminal Code, which provides for criminal liability of imprisonment for up to five years, as well as a fine of up to 20000 leva (Art. 278e).

The deceased specimen was released under a project to restore the species in the Balkan Mountains and is one of the first to nest in Bulgaria since the start of attempts to restore the species. The project is funded by the European Union under the LIFE program and is implemented by the NGO “Green Balkans”. FDFF is a partner for the Kotlenska Planina region. The loss of this bird is of particular importance because it is part of one of the three successful breeding pairs that raised young in the Kotlenska Planina in 2025 – the most successful breeding season for the black vulture in the region since the start of the program to restore the species in the country.

The current attack has a particular gravity, given that it was committed against a species that disappeared as a breeder in the country and was restored within the last 10 years after continuous efforts to restore the population in the country and minimize threats such as deliberate shooting, poaching and poisoning, for which significant EU funds, as well as human efforts, have been invested.

The Ministry of Interior and the District Prosecutor's Office in Targovishte have been informed about the crime. The Ministry of Environment and Water and the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water - Shumen remain ready to assist, and the problem of poaching (shooting and poisoning) of protected species from the restoration programs is yet to be discussed with the other responsible institutions and organizations - the Executive Forestry Agency (EFA), the Union of Hunters and Fishermen in Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Hunting and Fishing Union.

The Black Vulture is a protected species, included in Appendix 3 to the Biodiversity Act with the category "extinct" in the Red Book of the Republic of Bulgaria (2015). The program for the recovery of the species in the country began in 2018, when an Action Plan for the Conservation of the Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus) in Bulgaria for the period until 2028 was approved by order of the Minister of Environment and Water: https://www.moew.government.bg/bg/priroda/biologichno-raznoobrazie/zastiteni-vidove/planove-za-dejstvie/).

In the past, the species was found in the Rhodope Mountains, Rila, Pirin, the Western Border Mountains, Stara Planina, Vitosha, the mountains around Sofia Plain, in the flat parts of the country - Dobrudzha, Ludogorie, Shumen, and Provadia Plateaus, Danube Plain and Southeastern Bulgaria. Around 1960, the Black Vulture was almost no longer found in the country. After a long pause, the last proven nest with a chick was found in 1993 in the area of the Studen Kladenets dam. Targeted efforts to restore this species in Bulgaria through its reintroduction began in 2005. Efforts to limit threats, provide safe food on artificial sites, maintain adaptation aviaries, and monitor are ongoing to this day.