€4,000 reward for “finding body of Egyptian Vulture Isabel and her killer” – CERM

A reward of €4,000 for “finding the body of Egyptian Vulture Isabel and her killer in Malta,” is being offered by the Italian Association CERM.

Isabel was a young Egyptian Vulture born in June 2021 at the CERM Endangered Raptor Centre, in Italy.

In a statement, CERM explained that in August this year, together with four more young captive-bred Egyptian Vultures, Isabel was released in southern Italy in the framework of a project funded by the European Union which aims at improving the conservation status of this species, one of the most threatened in Europe (www.lifegyptianvulture.it/en ^[1]).CERM said that in Italy the species is on the brink of extinction and the yearly release of captive-bred Egyptian Vultures is a very important action in order to restock the Italian population.

During her first migration, Isabel arrived in Malta on the 14th of September and then “disappeared.” CERM explained that “both the information received by local ornithologists and the data received from the GPS Isabel was fitted with indicates that she was probably shot down near Dingli Cliffs between 19:24 and 19:44 (7.24 pm – 7.44 pm).”

“Much time and effort was devoted by several people to giving birth to Isabel, to succeeding for her to be adopted by a thoughtful foster Egyptian Vulture, to releasing her into nature,” CERM said. “Furthermore, considerable funds have been invested.”

The CERM Endangered Raptors Centre went on to say that some members of the CERM Association, have therefore, offered a reward of €4,000 to “anyone who can provide information leading to find Isabel’s body and her murderer.”

Anyone who can help the CERM Association can write to ricerca.isabel@gmail.com ^[2] “Absolute anonymity will be ensured.”