ANIMALS In the middle of the 20th century, the skies of the Grands Causses were desperately empty. A few enthusiasts then made a crazy bet: to organize the return of the four species of vultures that once hovered there. An incredible adventure!
The griffon vulture can be recognized by its long neck covered with white down, perfectly suited for digging inside carcasses and extracting the soft tissues on which it feeds. — Jesus Noguera photography/Shutterstock
Closely linked to the notion of death, the vultures have been at will eras and cultures either revered or hated. It’s especially in Western Europe that their image has gradually deteriorated. Victims of deep detestation and unfounded popular beliefs, they were the object of a methodical campaign of extermination which ended when the last disappeared from the French skies in the 1950s. Only a tiny population has succeeded in subsist in the Pyrenees.
The griffon vulture returns to the Causses
In the 1970s, a few naturalists passionate about these large birds of prey began to explore consider the return of the griffon vulture in the Grands Causses, in the south of France, in particular in the Jonte gorges.
In partnership with the Cévennes National Park, created in 1970, the Raptor Intervention Fund (which later merged with the LPO) began to reintroduce the species in 1981.
Birds from farms and zoos in particular are gradually acclimatized and then released: a world first! In all, about sixty vultures are thus released for about ten years. À force of patience, perseverance and considerable follow-up work, the program is crowned. success and today there are nearly 800 breeding pairs in the Cévennes.
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Closing the loop
On the strength of this success, passionate naturalists will not stop there. Their goal is then to reintroduce the four species of European vulture so that each can play its part in the process of disposing of the carcasses of dead animals.
En  ;1992, the black vulture is the subject of the first reintroductions. About fifty birds will thus repopulate the skies of the Cévennes. Severe; again, success! The first breeding pairs are formed.
As an indirect beneficiary of the conservation measures put in place to promote the establishment of vulture colonies, the Egyptian vulture made its spontaneous return in 1986.
Finally , in 2012, delicate operations to reintroduce the bearded vulture were carried out in the Grands Causses in an attempt to connect the populations of the Alps with those of the Pyrenees. À follow!
With a wingspan of up to 2.95 m and a weight of 10 kg, the black vulture is one of the largest of our raptors. – Jesus Giraldo Gutierrez/Shutterstock
An example of cooperation
If these multiple programs aimed at restore vulture populations in the Cévennes have been crowned with success, thanks to exemplary cooperation between all the actors in the field. The work of the naturalists and scientists was able to succeed thanks to the concerted efforts of the administration, the livestock authorities, the veterinary services and the local populations. Because it is indeed the breeders, especially of ewes, who have from the start accepted to supply the carcasses necessary for establishment of vulture colonies.
Today, around a hundred quartering plots have been identified in the Causses, the French state having even recognized vultures as a natural means of quartering.
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