Romania's Vultures Are Coming Back: Why Their Return Matters Far Beyond Our Borders

A bird I have never seen here

I photographed my first White-throated Dipper on the Dâmbovița at Rucăr. Only later did I learn that near the same commune, in March 2026, 25 young Griffon Vultures were moved into an acclimatisation aviary — the first step in bringing back a bird that has not bred in Romania for more than 70 years.

Like almost every Romanian alive today, I have never seen a vulture breeding in this country. None has, for decades. For my generation of wildlife photographers, vultures belong to documentaries from Spain, the Balkans or Africa, not to the Carpathians. That may now slowly change, and I think it is worth understanding why it matters — not only for Romania.

Four species, all lost as breeders

Romania once had four breeding vulture species:

1. Griffon Vulture (vulturul sur) — Gyps fulvus
2. Cinereous Vulture (vulturul negru) — Aegypius monachus
3. Bearded Vulture (zăganul) — Gypaetus barbatus
4. Egyptian Vulture (hoitarul) — Neophron percnopterus

All four disappeared as breeding species during the 20th century, and they did not disappear at the same time or for one single reason. A historical review by Milvus Group and Romanian Ornithological Society authors describes the Bearded Vulture as already rare by the mid-19th century, with the last known nests in the Cerna valley in 1878, the Bucegi in 1886 and the Dâmbovița valley in 1887. The Griffon Vulture lasted until the middle of the 20th century.

That Dâmbovița detail stays with me. The same valley where I now go to photograph dippers once held one of the last Bearded Vulture nests in Romania.

The organisations working on their return name several causes, acting together:

1. poisoned baits set for wolves and bears, which killed vultures feeding on the same carcasses
2. direct persecution and shooting, because the birds were considered harmful
3. collection of eggs
4. less food available in the landscape
5. habitat change and human disturbance

Two separate efforts, not one

It is easy to read the news and think there is one Romanian vulture project. There are two, run by different organisations in different parts of the Southern Carpathians.

Făgăraș and Rucăr: already underway

Foundation Conservation Carpathia leads a long-term Griffon Vulture reintroduction programme aimed at a stable population in the Făgăraș Mountains, in partnership with ING Bank Romania, the Milvus Group Association, the communes of Lerești, Rucăr and Valea Mare Pravăț, and the Argeș veterinary and food safety directorate.

The first 25 birds arrived on 9 March 2026. According to the Vulture Conservation Foundation, which coordinated the transfer, several had been found injured or weak in Extremadura, Spain, were rehabilitated and donated by the regional government. The aviary near Rucăr sits at roughly 1,150 metres, measures about 160 square metres and is six metres high, overlooking cliffs that could one day become nesting sites. The birds are ringed and are to carry GPS transmitters, and more transfers are planned in the coming years.

I have not found an official update confirming when the first birds were released from the aviary, so I am not stating a date. Carpathia streams the aviary live on weekdays, which is the most honest way to follow the birds without going there.

LIFE for Vultures: Domogled–Valea Cernei

A second, separate project — "Return of the Griffon and Cinereous Vultures to the Southern Carpathians for a Wilder, More Connected Europe", or LIFE for Vultures — officially began on 1 October 2026. It is coordinated by the Rewilding Romania Foundation with GREFA (Spain), the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR) and the Vulture Conservation Foundation.

It works in the south-western Carpathians, around Domogled–Valea Cernei National Park, with a release site within the administrative territory of Obârșia-Cloșani, Mehedinți. According to the European Commission's announcement and the LIFE project database:

1. runs from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2033
2. total eligible budget of €7,558,281, including €4,534,969 in EU funding
3. plans to release 170–184 Griffon Vultures and 24–40 Cinereous Vultures
4. includes work against poisoning and other threats

Those numbers are planned releases, not birds already living wild in Romania. Released birds die, wander away or fail to settle; the result will be measured in pairs that stay and breed, years from now.

Why Romania: restoring a relationship, not just a bird

Protecting what is left and restoring what is gone are different kinds of conservation. Here nothing is left to protect. The aim is to rebuild an ecological relationship that disappeared before most of us were born: large animals die in the mountains, and a specialised scavenger finds and clears them.

Vultures do not kill. They feed on carcasses, and in groups they can clear one quickly, returning nutrients to the landscape and, according to conservation bodies, helping limit the spread of disease. Other scavengers — foxes, wild boar, crows, insects — also do this work, and Romanian mountains have functioned without vultures for decades. The point is not that the ecosystem collapses without them. It is that a specialised role has been missing.

Why Europe: vultures do not stay inside borders

Vultures travel enormous distances. A population restored in one country does not live in isolation: young birds disperse, cross borders and visit colonies hundreds of kilometres away. A healthy population in Europe therefore depends on a network of smaller ones that can exchange birds.

Spain holds most of that strength — around 95% of the world's Griffon Vultures, according to the Vulture Conservation Foundation — and regularly supplies birds to projects elsewhere. South-eastern Europe shows what restoration can do. In Bulgaria, Griffon Vultures were reintroduced in the Balkan Mountains between 2010 and 2016. Cinereous Vultures, once extinct there, were released near Kotel from 25 July 2018; by 2021 a pair had fledged the first wild-hatched chick in Bulgaria for decades, and 72 birds had been released by 2023. For years the only original Balkan colony of the species survived in Dadia National Park, Greece.

Both Romanian projects describe the same long-term hope: reconnecting with vulture populations in Bulgaria and Greece. That is an objective, not something that exists yet. Romania has not created a vulture corridor. It may become one more piece of a more connected south-eastern European population.

Why the world: a conservation story across two continents

Vultures are among the most threatened bird groups in Africa and Asia. The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) notes that most Old World vulture species are now listed as Critically Endangered, after drastic declines.

In 2017 CMS Parties adopted the Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures. It covers all 15 migratory Old World vulture species across 128 Range States. Its list of threats will sound familiar: poisoning, both intentional and accidental, electrocution and collisions with power lines, habitat loss, lack of food, persecution and illegal trade. CMS stresses that vultures use vast ranges and cross political borders, so no country can protect them alone.

The Egyptian Vulture is the clearest example: a long-distance migrant between Europe and Africa, with its own flyway action plan under the same framework. Seen this way, every poison-free mountain in Romania is part of a much larger map.

What this means for wildlife photographers

For the first time in generations, Romanian photographers may one day photograph vultures in Romanian skies. That is exciting, and it comes with responsibility. These will be a small number of birds, many carrying transmitters, in the most fragile years of a long project.

1. Do not try to reach the aviaries or release sites. Follow the live streams and official updates instead.
2. Never place carcasses or food to attract vultures for a photograph. Feeding is part of a managed programme.
3. Keep your distance from cliffs where birds roost or may nest, and leave if a bird changes its behaviour because of you.
4. Do not share exact locations of roosts or nests online.
5. If you find a dead or injured vulture, or suspect poison, report it to the project teams or authorities rather than handling it.

I would love to photograph a Romanian vulture one day. I would rather wait years for a distant, honest frame than be one of the reasons a bird abandons a cliff.

Sources and photographic credits

1. Foundation Conservation Carpathia, 9 March 2026 — arrival of the first 25 Griffon Vultures, partners, causes of extinction.
2. Vulture Conservation Foundation, 11 March 2026 — origin of the birds, aviary details, Spain's share of the world population.
3. Rewilding Romania — LIFE for Vultures — project start, partners, Domogled–Valea Cernei and Obârșia-Cloșani.
4. 2eu.brussels, 19 October 2026 and the LIFE project database — budget, dates and planned releases.
5. Kelemen, Sándor & Mertens — Vultures in Romania: their past and present — historical breeding sites and last known nests.
6. Vulture Conservation Foundation — Cinereous Vulture to Bulgaria, 2021 overview and 2022–2023 report — Bulgarian reintroductions.
7. CMS — Vulture Multi-species Action Plan and publication — 15 species, 128 Range States, threats.
8. All four photographs are by other photographers and used under Creative Commons licences; the page layout may crop them for display. None was taken in Romania.

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