Current Public Attitudes to Old World Vultures

Public attitudes to Old World vultures appear to be similar to those concerning New World vultures; fear, respect, admiration, repulsiveness and conservation sympathy. As noted by Gross (2006) Europeans, like Americans, used to persecute vultures believing them to be the transmitters of disease, when in fact the vultures controlled brucellosis, anthrax, and other livestock diseases by eliminating the carcasses that spread infection.

Vultures in recent times and currently are still killed by people in Europe. However, increasingly, legislation has been created and implemented to protect the vultures, other raptors and birds and wildlife in general. Europe has more legislation for the protection of raptors and other birds than Africa or Asia. The two main international treaties for the conservation of birds of prey in Europe are: the 1979 EEC Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds (commonly known as the 'Birds Directive') and the 1979 Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (popularly known as the 'Berne Convention') (Stroud 2003). The Birds Directive was adopted by the European Community in 1979, for the protection of all the resident and other naturally occurring wild birds in the territory of the EC Member States. Parts of the law, especially species lists were modified when new states joined the EU. The Birds Directive is broad and considers both animal and human issues (Temple-Lang 1982).

Article 2 requires Member States to 'maintain the population of the species referred to in Article 1 [i.e., all wild birds] at a level which corresponds in particular to ecological, scientific and cultural requirements, while taking account of economic and recreational requirements, or to adapt the population of these species to that level.'Article 3 requires Member States to preserve, maintain or re-establish a sufficient diversity and area of habitats to meet the obligations in Article 2. Vultures added in 1979 were the Bearded vulture, Egyptian vulture, Griffon vulture and the Cinereous vulture. Article 4 also requires member states to classify the most suitable landcover as special protection areas (SPAs), for the rare or vulnerable species listed in Annex I (Article 4.1), and for regularly occurring migratory species (Article 4.2).

Annex I lists species which 'shall be the subject of special conservation measures concerning their habitat in order to ensure their survival and reproduction in their area of distribution'. This means that for European raptors, Member States are required to classify SPAs under Article 4. EU member states are however allowed a limited degree of discretion in defining 'the most suitable territories'. The limitations of this discretion was defined in the European Court of Justice case-law, e.g., ECJ Case C-3/96—Commission of the European Communities v. The Kingdom of The Netherlands supported by the Federal Republic of Germany (Judgement of the Court). OJ, 25 July 1998, C234/8. Also included in the Birds Directive are details of species protection (Article 5), banning of trade in live or dead birds (Article 6), limitations of hunting (Article 7), and capture or killing (Article 8), especially for the species listed in Annex IV(a). It also allows exceptions in the interests of public health and safety, and air safety, to prevent serious damage to crops, livestock, forests, fisheries and water, for the protection of flora and fauna, for research and teaching, of re-population, of re-introduction and for the breeding necessary for these purposes and also to permit, under strictly supervised conditions and on a selective basis, the capture, keeping or other judicious use of, certain birds in small numbers (Article 9). Research in support of conservation is also encouraged (Article 10).

The Berne Convention, similar to the Birds Directive provides a broad framework for the conservation of fauna and flora within the signatory countries of the Council of Europe. As noted by Stroud (2003: 58) 'As they relate to birds of prey, the species protection regime (including derogation measures) of the Berne Convention is virtually identical to that of the Birds Directive.' Other important legislative pieces in Europe relevant to vultures are commonly called the Habitats Directive, the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (Bonn Convention). The 'Habitats Directive' (Council Directive 93/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is important as raptors benefit indirectly from the habitat protection measures (including the classification of a European network of Special Areas of Conservation). Article 6 of the Directive is also directly relevant to the management and conservation of SPAs identified under Article 4 of the Birds Directive. The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (1975) regulates the international trade in specimens, live, dead or derivatives of wild fauna and flora. It is based on a system of conditional permits. Raptors occurring in Europe are listed in Appendix I of CITES, except for the White-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, Imperial eagle Aquila heliaca, Spanish imperial eagle (A. adalberti), Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) and Gyrfalcon (F. rusticolus), which are listed in Appendix I. Although the EU is not yet a Party to CITES (Stroud 2003), most European countries are signatories to CITES. The EU fully implements the CITES from 1984 through EU Regulations. An example is the Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 on the Protection of Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by regulating Trade therein. This Regulation actually goes beyond CITES by adding non-CITES listed species in its Annexes.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (Bonn Convention) (1983) provides a framework within which the contracting parties may act and co-operate for conservation purposes. In particular, these include the adoption of: protection measures for endangered migratory species; agreements for the conservation and management of threatened migratory species; and the undertaking of joint research activities. Appendix 1 lists species that are in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of their range. Appendix II lists migratory species whose conservation status (not necessarily endangered) would benefit from conservation or related actions. All European diurnal raptors are listed in Appendix II of the Bonn Convention, with the whitetailed eagle additionally listed in Appendix I.

International action plans also exist, these being initiated by the Council of Europe and the European Commission. For example, such plans have been published for the Cinereous Vulture (Heredia et al. 1996; Stroud 2003). EU governments have also united to promote raptor conservation that are 'among the strongest for any group of species anywhere in the world, and apply over a huge extent of Europe, from North Africa to high Arctic Svalbard, and from the Iberian Peninsula to the shores of the Caspian Sea' (Stroud 2003: 73). Nevertheless, Stroud (2003) notes that despite these actions, many birds of prey are still in conservation trouble; in fact the main problems (persecution, including shooting, trapping, direct and indirect poisoning, nest destruction; disturbance at nest sites; egg-robbing; illegal trade in live birds for falconry; habitat change, loss and fragmentation) 'are exactly those that the Convention and Directive explicitly aims to control' (ibid. 79).

Factors for these failures are the wide interpretation of international treaty provisions, inadequate enforcement measures, and inadequate environmental education and public awareness programmes. Some laws had negative effects. For example, the EU Regulation 1774/2002 designed to stop the spread of BSE had the unintended effect of starving scavengers, many of which are protected species. Another fundamental problem is the impact of landcover change on raptor nesting, foraging and presence. The main landcover changes are based on agricultural policies that transform extensive and low-intensity farming systems to high- intensity and/or monocultural forms of agriculture, which may affect the entire ecosystems upon which raptors depend (Beaufoy et al. 1994; Tucker and Heath 1994; Donazar et al. 1997; Hagemeijer and Blair 1997; Pain and Pienkowski 1997; Heath and Evans 2000; Stroud 2003).