'Milvus' Bird and Nature Protection Group in Targu Mures announced on Thursday that the bearded vulture (lammergeier) Boev, part of the European conservation programme 'Bearded Vulture LIFE', was found dead in Bulgaria, alongside four black vultures, two griffon vultures and a raven, all killed by poisoning.

'Boev, one of the greatest success stories of the European conservation programme, hatched on February 12, 2025 at the Ostrava Zoo in the Czech Republic. On May 17, 2025, he was released in Bulgaria's Sinite Kamani Nature Park, marking a historic milestone: the return of the species after an absence of more than half a century. After a year in the wild in the Balkan Mountains, Boev began a long-distance exploratory journey on April 13, 2026. The bird immediately entered Romanian territory, where monitoring was taken over by ornithologists from the 'Milvus' Group in Targu Mures. Over 123 days of adventure through Central and Northern Europe, Romanian volunteers tracked his route via satellite and intervened on the ground with supplementary feeding during extended stopovers. After covering 14,000 kilometres, the vulture returned to Bulgaria on August 13. Only a few days later, his satellite transmitter began emitting alert signals indicating lack of movement, prompting field teams to intervene and discover the carnage in which eight critically important birds of prey had died,' the group said on Facebook.

Specialists say the discovery represents a true ecological nightmare and a devastating blow to efforts to reintroduce vulture species in the Balkans, wiping out more than 30 years of continuous work and international cooperation in just a few hours.

'In this case, authorities in the neighbouring country have already detained a 36-year-old suspect. The man, a livestock breeder by profession, admitted to investigators that he used poison within the national park. Necropsies carried out by experts from the Green Balkans organisation confirmed that all birds showed the same symptoms typical of poisoning, suffering a slow and agonising death,' Milvus added.

According to data from Green Balkans, the incidence of such practices remains high. Over the past 10 years, more than 70 cases have been documented in which individuals from the four vulture species present in Bulgaria fell victim to poisoning or illegal shooting.

Ornithologists stress that the loss of these rare specimens leaves a deep void in the ecosystem and represents a heavy moral blow for all those dedicated to species-reintroduction projects in the Balkans.

The 'Bearded Vulture LIFE' project, under which Boev was released, is a major cross-border initiative launched in August 2023 with funding of EUR 5.17 million, co-financed through the EU's LIFE Programme. Coordinated by Green Balkans, the project brings together eight organisations from three countries, including Romania, with the goal of restoring bearded vulture and black vulture populations by 2030.

Within this consortium, the role of the 'Milvus' Group in Targu Mures is to locate, care for and release weakened or injured vultures that reach Romanian territory. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Dorina Matis; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)