Saturday, 7 September 2024, marks World Vulture Awareness Day, which is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of September since its inception in 2006.

On this occasion, the Libyan Society for Birds extends its sincere gratitude and appreciation to all who contribute to the protection and conservation of vultures, given their essential role in maintaining ecological balance. Vultures face increasing threats from urban expansion and human activities that disturb them and displace them from their natural habitats.

We also recall the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), once widespread in Jebel Nafusa and the Green Mountain, which has now become extremely rare. In contrast, in 2021, Libya recorded the presence of a new species, the Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppelli), also known as the “Spotted Vulture,” documented by members of the Libyan Society for Birds and later delivered to the Tripoli Zoo, which works diligently to care for and protect vultures.

The Libyan Society for Birds hopes that this day will help raise environmental awareness about the importance of vultures, their role in nature, and the need to preserve them and their habitats for future generations.