Female bearded vulture injured by transport cable
A female bearded vulture in Switzerland was seriously injured by a transport cable. The case highlights the dangers facing birds of prey.
The female bearded vulture Donna Elvira, released into the wild in Obwalden in June 2021, has been seriously injured.
She collided with a transport cable and is now being cared for at Tierpark Goldau SZ. Whether the bird can be released back into the wild remains uncertain.
Donna Elvira was released last summer at the age of 95 days near Melchsee-Frutt. At the time, the bird was not yet able to fly. Once fledged, however, she spent several months in the Bernese Oberland, in the cantons of Glarus and Valais, as well as in the Domodossola area of Italy, as the Bearded Vulture Foundation reported.
At the end of 2021, the bearded vulture — equipped with a transmitter — returned to Obwalden. The Bearded Vulture Foundation noticed that Donna Elvira was behaving strangely. Her flight manoeuvres had been unusual, and she eventually spent the night in a meadow in Kerns OW.
The local game warden was able to catch the bird and thus save her from death. It emerged that Donna Elvira had collided with a transport cable and sustained injuries as a result.
The female bird is now being cared for at the Natur- und Tierpark Goldau. It remains unclear how well she will recover, the foundation added. If she cannot be released back into the wild, she will be included in the international breeding programme.
Since 2015, thirteen young bearded vultures have been released into the wild in central Switzerland. In 2018, bearded vulture Alois collided with a freely suspended cable of a transport line in the canton of Nidwalden and sustained fatal injuries.
Eagle shot
Donna Elvira is not the only wild bird currently being cared for at the Natur- und Tierpark Goldau. Also in its care is a golden eagle that was shot with pellets in the canton of Uri in December 2021.
The eagle was found in the Rynächtflue area in the municipality of Schattdorf, the Cantonal Police of Uri reported. It had suffered broken bones. If the healing process progresses satisfactorily, release back into the wild may be possible. So far, there are no leads regarding the perpetrator or the location of the shooting.
