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Following the Red-breasted Goose: Six Geese fitted with GPS transmitters for the first time in Bulgaria

Bonn, 1 February 2011 - Ornithologists from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB/BirdLife in Bulgaria) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) have successfully fitted six Red-breasted Geese (Branta ruficollis) with miniature GPS transmitters.

The birds were captured at their traditional wintering sites near the Shabla and Durankulak lakes in Bulgaria, close to the Black Sea. It is the first time that Red-breasted Geese are being monitored via satellite tracking methods.

Red-breasted Geese are the most threatened goose species worldwide. In the last decade the species’ population declined by 50% and the most recent counts revealed that just 40,000 birds are left in the wild. Changes in agricultural practices following Bulgaria’s accession to the EU can further aggrevate the status of the species. Another problem is hunting, not only based on the number of birds that are directly killed, but also due to the disturbance that hunting causes. Scared away by the gun fire, the geese use up their energy reserves that they need for their long migration back to their breeding grounds in Russia.

Scientists hope that the data collected by the GPS transmitters fitted to the geese will tell them more about the species and help to secure their survival by adapted conservation measures. The activities carried out in Bulgaria are part of a new EU LIFE project focusing on the conservation of the wintering population of the Red-breasted Goose.

Due to their endangered conservation status, more emphasis has also been placed on Red-breasted Geese under AEWA. A draft revised International Single Species Action Plan (SSAP) for the Red-breasted Goose is currently under revision by AEWA’s Technical Committee.

The SSAP for the Red-breasted Goose was compiled by WWT, the BirdLife European Division and the Red-breasted Goose Expert Working Group and jointly commissioned by the European Commission and the AEWA Secretariat. The Action Plan has already passed consultations within the EU framework and will be presented for adoption at the 5th Meeting of the Parties to AEWA.

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