Roadside Rescue for World’s Oldest Bearded Vulture

Last October a sickly bearded vulture was rescued by a roadside in Haute-Savoie, France, just south of Geneva. Taken to a veterinary clinic that specializes in vultures, the staff learned this specimen is 37 years old, the world’s oldest bearded vulture outside of captivity.

The vulture is well known to the conservationists in the area, who named him Balthazar. Hatched in February 1988 in a Dutch breeding center, the bird was released into the wild later that year. Balthazar became the first reintroduced male to successfully reproduce in 1997, when he sired and raised his first chick – the first of fifteen. He now has over 30 descendants.

Tracked by the Vulture Conservation Foundation, Balthazar disappeared in 2016 and was presumed dead. Right up until October, when Balthazar was picked up in Haute-Savoie, worse for wear.

Balthazar was underweight and arthritic, and an X-ray scan revealed a lead pellet embedded in his right foot. The vulture vets monitored his condition as he gained weight and his condition improved, then they released him back into the wild on November 6, now with a new GPS tag attached.

The VCF experts monitoring  Balthazar noticed that the bird was exhibiting odd behavior, flying very little and not at great height. By the end of the month they made the decision to recapture Balthazar and place him in a local sanctuary. He will spend the rest of his life in captivity (where bearded vultures can live up to 50 years).

Gypaetus barbatus  is also known as the ossifrage, which means “bone breaker.” That’s because this scavenger is the only bird – the only vertebrate in fact – whose diet consists of 85–90% bone.

  The big birds can have wingspans of up to nine feet. They thrive in the higher elevations of eastern Asia, but were nearly wiped out in the Pyrenees and Alps in the 20th century. Reintroduced specimens like Balthazar have established a small but viable population here. As the progenitor of 30 descendants, he’s done his part for the cause.

Photo credit: Vulture Conservation Foundation