Bilan des prospections du gypaète le 16/10 et le 4/12/2010 dans les Alpes françaises

Bearded Vultures once were found in almost all mountain ranges of southern Europe and in the Alps. The payment of rewards for shooting and capturing, the use of poisoned baits and the shooting for zoological collections led to the extermination of the species in the Alps during the 19th Century. With the aid of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, WWF and IUCN this group founded in 1978 at Morges (CH) the « International Project for the Reintroduction of the Bearded Vulture into the Alps ». Only captive bred young birds were used. The first birds were released in 1986 in Austria. In France, the Bargy (Haute-Savoie) was the first area where some birds were introduced in 1987. In May 2010, 19 couples were counted in the Alps and 11 successfully raised a chick.
The 16th of October 2010, an international survey has been organized in the Alps, from France to Austria, as a part of the IBM (International Bearded Vulture Monitoring): the French association ASTERS gives us the results for Haute-Savoie and for different areas in the French Alps.
ASTERS also sent us the results of an another survey focused on Haute-Savoie organized the 4th of December 2010.