In a month they will be able to fly undisturbed in the skies of Sardinia. They are the six chicks of Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata), coming from Spain and hosted in the adaptation and pre-release aviary of the Forestas Agency compendium in the Crastazza area of Bitti, on the mountain side of the Tepilora Park. The six chicks are included in the actions of the Life Abilas cooperation project and are added to the first specimen, which arrived last May 12 from Sicily.

The project

In October 2024, the activities planned in the new LIFE23-NAT-IT-Life Abilas Project, funded by the European Union, began. They will involve the Regional Agency Forestas, together with the lead partner ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), the Department of Environmental Protection of the Sardinia Region, E-Distribuzione SpA and the Spanish NGO GREFA, in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Forestry Corps and the Tepilora Regional Natural Park, in the periodic releases of young Bonelli's Eagles and other activities always linked to the return of this species to Sardinia.

The new program aims to consolidate the reintroduction of this bird of prey, after the conclusion in September 2022 of the previous international project LIFE16 NAT/ES/000235 “AQUILA a-LIFE” which involved, between 2018 and 2022, several organizations and bodies in Spain (Coordinator GREFA Grupo para la Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat-ES), France and Italy (ISPRA) and resulted in the release of 32 young eagles in Sardinia. In addition to the aviary in the Tepilora Park, for three years, the one in S. Maria di Bosa was also involved in the interventions, thanks to the collaboration and support of the IIS “GA Pischedda” of Bosa.

Tepilora Park

"The fact that the territory of our Park was chosen at a regional level for the reintroduction of the Bonelli's Eagle, and for several years has continued to be reconfirmed as a fundamental point of reference for this wildlife regeneration project, demonstrates how important the Tepilora area is in terms of managing animal biodiversity in Sardinia and reconstituting a balance in the fragile ecosystem of our Island". This was stated by the president of the Tepilora Park, Martino Sanna, in commenting on the restart of the program in the aviary of the protected area.

Ispra

"The new chicks come from the captive breeding center of the partner Grefa and from capture in natural nests in Andalusia, where there is a large population of the species, and from Sicily. As always, all the chicks will be equipped with a GPS/GSM transmitter and it will be possible to follow their movements". This is what Elisabetta Raganella Pelliccioni, technologist of ISPRA, who together with a team of experts from Spain and other representatives of the partners involved participated yesterday in the arrival of the young eagles in the acclimatization aviary. "To date - continued Raganella - the results obtained are in line with the previous experiences of reintroduction of the species carried out in Spain and, at the moment, there are two couples on the island who have already been territorial for some time, and who are carrying out the first nesting attempts. Life Abilas, in fact, is an important project that contributes to enriching the treasure chest of biodiversity that is Sardinia with the reintroduction of a species, the Bonelli's Eagle, for the community and future generations".

Forests

"The Forestas Agency continues to guarantee the necessary support with the various professional skills present among the staff, as done in the past by the forest management structures of the Sardinia Region, to the interventions implemented for the conservation of biodiversity and the reintroduction of those that were biological entities that had disappeared, such as the case of the Bonelli's Eagle". This was recalled by the head of the Biodiversity, environmental education and fauna sector of the Forestas Agency, Dionigi Secci, who added: "We do it following the strong will supported by the sole director of the Agency, Salvatore Piras, and the general director, Antonio Casula, who constantly follow and coordinate these activities".

(Unioneonline/vf)

© Riproduzione riservata