A fourth batch of vultures that arrived in Cyprus from Spain in February were released into the wild late on Thursday as part of efforts to strengthen their population, BirdLife Cyprus said.

“Strengthening their population by introducing more vultures is an important step in the ongoing efforts to prevent the species’ extinction, giving us hope for the future,” it said.

After a nine-month acclimatisation period in special cages of the game and fauna service of Cyprus, the last two griffon vultures were successfully released, bringing the total vulture population to 41.

Their movements are being monitored via GPS transmitters and the birds are expected to join the rest of the flock soon.

“The aim is to continue intensive efforts with an emphasis on addressing threats to the griffon vulture population, like poisoning and electrocution, which undermine conservation efforts and are threatening the species with extinction,” BirdLife said.

The vultures were donated to the island by the autonomous community of Andalusia, part of the efforts to increase Cyprus’ griffon vulture population which is the smallest in Europe.

The project is coordinated by the Vulture Conservation Foundation, BirdLife and the game and fauna service.

The programme first began in 2012, when there were only eight to ten griffon vultures remaining in Cyprus, with two other batch releases in 2022 and 2023.