A VULTURE has successfully hatched at a North Yorkshire centre, leading to what is possibly the UK’s first ever captive-bred vulture being released into the wild.
The chick, named 'Vicki', was hatched at the National Centre for Birds of Prey (NCBP) in Helmsley which is home to a disabled pair of Griffon Vultures rescued from the wild in 2012.
After five years of trying to breed them, Charlie Heap, who runs the NCBP, built an artificial incubation room in 2018 where the egg was artificially incubated and hatched on April 1.
Vicki is now fully-grown with an 8ft wingspan and has been accepted into the Vulture Conservation Foundation’s release programme in Sardinia.
Unwilling to risk such precious cargo with a courier, Mr Heap and fellow NCBP director Dr Vicki Lamb drove the 1,760km to Sardinia with Vicki earlier this month to take her to her new home.
Mr Heap said: “This really has been one of the highlights of my career. I’m not ashamed to say I shed a tear or two when this Griffon Vulture hatched in my hand.
"It’s fantastic to think she will now spend her life soaring over the Mediterranean hills."
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