There has always been a close cooperation between vultures and cattle breeders. When one of their animals died, cattle breeders used to abandon the corpse in the field. In a few hours, Cinereous, Griffon, Egyptian and Bearded Vultures fed on the corpse, thus avoiding the spread of diseases.
This marriage between vultures and cattle breeders lives on nowadays, with its ups and downs like every relationship. In 2001, however, the definite breakup happened. The strict health standards promulgated to fight the mad cow disease imposed the divorce. Cattle breeders could no longer abandon their dead animals on the fields.
As usually happens in all broken marriages, everyone got hurt. Cattle breeders were forced to hire and pay insurances for the collection of dead animals and its following cremation, and vultures were condemned to famine.
Birding140 watching scavengers at the point of supplementary feeding of El Espinar
Given the difficult situation that vultures were facing, Colectivo Azalvaro created a system for the elimination of dead animals called the ARCAN project (from its Spanish initials “Autogestión de la Red de Comederos de Aves Necrófagas”, that is to say “self-management of the network of feeding points for necrophagous birds”). The facilities of the former rubbish dump of El Espinar were adapted as a cleaning and disinfection centre for the special vehicles that the ARCAN project would use for the transportation of dead animals. A Supplementary Feeding Point (SPF) network was established for carrion birds distributed over the province of Segovia. The first one was also established in the former rubbish dump of El Espinar, taking advantage of the fact that it was a traditional feeding point for Red and Black Kites and White Storks.
The ARCAN project was finally launched in 2006, and it has been offering Segovian cattle breeders an innovative system to manage the collection and destruction of their dead animals and the by-products of the meat industry. Colectivo Azalvaro collects dead animals from livestock farming and moves them to controlled supplementary feeding points, complying with the strict health standards. This way, they avoid the pollutant and expensive cremation of the corpses and, at the same time, provide food for the necrophagous birds of the region, basically Cinereous and Griffon Vultures.
Bird observatory of El Espinar
The European legislation has recently started to become more flexible. In the natural spaces with an important presence of necrophagous birds, the authorities are allowed to grant permissions to extensive livestock farms to abandon the bodies of their dead animals. Unfortunately, the change in the regulation is not enough. Many regional authorities are unwilling to grant these permissions. This is causing that, in large portions of the Iberian Peninsula –the last refuge of European Vultures with the 90 % of the total population– vultures are still suffering the famine.
Apart from the new legislation, initiatives like the ARCAN project are the last hope for the survival of the scarce European vulture populations. We hope Colectivo Azalvaro will succeed with this innovative project, so vultures and cattle breeders can soon resume their close cooperation as they have always done.
