MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

The origin of the present project for the reintroduction of the Bearded Vulture into the Alps dates back to the early seventies. Inspired by the successes obtained by the Alpenzoo in Innsbruck, Austria, an initial meeting was held during the second World Conference on Birds of Prey in Vienna, 1975. It discussed the possibility of reproducing the Bearded Vulture into the Alps, exclusively on the basis of captive breeding. In the same period efforts were being undertaken in Savoie, France, and Switzerland to release wild-caught birds from Asia. On 17-18 November 1978 an international meeting took place in Morges, Switzerland, bringing together all those involved. Thus, the basis was laid for concerted action of biologists, conservation organisations, government departments and universities, directors and veterinarians of zoological gardens and directors of national parks.

Immediately afterwards a breeding network was being created throughout Europe, with its centre near Vienna. This station soon became the world's most important breeding centre for the species. These stages of the project were mainly financed by the Frankfurt Zoological Society and WWF Austria.

It was not until 1986 that, after preliminary studies to select release areas within the Alpine range, the first young captive born birds could be released in the area of Rauris, Austria. Since then regular releases took place in Savoie, France, in the Engadin region of Switzerland, this year followed by one in the area of the adjacent Italian and French parks of Argentera and Mercantour.

To keep the growing number of participants informed, WWF Switzerland organised for many years initially under the auspices of the IUCN Commission on Ecology, annual information meetings in Zurich. However, no legal basis existed for the breeding network, the birds involved, the overall responsibility for release operations. To fill this gap the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture (F. C. B. V.) was established by those who initiated the project and organised the Morges meeting of 1978.

The F.C.B.V. has now assumed overall responsibility for the project, which includes organising the annual information meeting and publishing the Annual Report as from 1993.

Already new challenges present themselves as requests for assistance from other European countries reach the Foundation. I express the hope that we, together, will reach our final goal of reestablishing the Bearded Vulture as a breeding species in many of those regions of Europe where it became extinct in the past century.