I had no idea that vultures lived in Crete until one flew right over my head and landed on the ruins of an ancient wall in Ithanos.
We were like that together, me and the vulture, for a few minutes, looking at each other. I have never been so close to any wild animal. I did not know what to do. When his huge wings covered me with their shadow during landing, because he was landing right above my head, I was transported to the land of dragons. In fact, if instead of a vulture a dragon landed in front of me, it would seem equally unreal.
The vulture was sitting on the wall and dozing off from time to time. However, he woke up every time I tried to take a step towards him. He was very tired. Torn between curiosity and fear, I couldn't leave for a long time. When I woke him up again, I felt sorry for him and with a beating heart I left so as not to disturb him with my presence. However, this meeting left me uneasy.
When Tom and I reached Heraklion after a few days, I accidentally visited the Museum of the Natural History of Crete. When I entered, I saw huge stuffed birds hanging from the ceiling in the hall. They were vultures. Their spread wings were monstrous. The museum was empty, but there was a woman sitting at the ticket desk with whom I had an interesting conversation.
I couldn't have made a better choice. It turned out that in addition to museum and educational activities, the Museum runs wildlife protection programs in Crete. And above all, bird protection. I wanted to find out more. And that's how I got to Spiros.
Spiros Liapakis is a conservator of paleontological specimens by profession. And a great storyteller. At the Natural History Museum of Crete, he is involved in the conservation of fossils. He takes part in paleontological excavations from which they bring back fossils and prepare them in the laboratory for exhibition in the Museum. However, a world that had been dead for millions of years was not enough for him and he was so drawn to wild nature that as soon as the opportunity arose, he is with one foot to the paleontological laboratory and with the other to the Museum's wild bird protection program.
Spiros has been feeding wild vultures since 2019. There are special feeding stations located in the Asterousia Mountains, and eastern Psiloritis
We provide vultures with safe food, he says.
The feeding ground is mainly used by Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) - Gryffindors (, but it is also visited by Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus), which pass through Crete.) It is becoming more and more difficult to find safe food. Hungry birds often eat poisoned carrion and this ends up killing them.
The authorities have been trying to educate the local population for years that poisoning homeless cats and dogs is not only cruel, but also destroys the entire ecosystem.
By eating carrion, a vulture neutralizes the diseases, bacteria and viruses contained in it. If an animal is killed by rabies, the vulture's body neutralizes it. This is a very important role, because if a dog or rat eats such a carcass, it becomes its carrier. The people of India found out about this. Almost all Indian vultures died within a short period of time due to a drug commonly given to cows, which turned out to be poisonous to the birds. They were replaced by stray dogs and rats as cleaners. The number of rabies cases has increased at an unprecedented rate in the country.
There are over a thousand Gryffindors in whole Crete. One of the tasks of the Museum's program is to save poisoned, weak or injured birds. Sometimes it is difficult for young birds to find food.
I remember two years ago when a vulture drowned in the sea near Tsoutsouros - says Spiros - The north wind was blowing, so the bird couldn't fly properly and landed in the sea. My friend who was lying on the beach saw a bird. He went into the water to save him. And he did it! It was amazing !
The vulture I met must have been young, hungry and tired. Spiros says that
Vultures do not approach people and rarely fly alone. They live in herds and never hunt. They are only made to eat carrion. I didn't know about it at the time and I didn't tell anyone who could help him.
We provide first aid to all injured or poisoned vultures. Then we send them to ANIMA - Wild Animal Hospital in Athens. Before releasing them, we put a ring on their leg and a tag with a number on their wing - this is their ID. We place a transmitter on some birds, thanks to which we can observe how they move - Spiros explains to me.
There is still an Orłosęp in Crete. The rarest and most endangered species of vulture. There are only 10 pairs 45 individual of them on the island. Pairs of bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) occupy huge areas. There is only one pair living in the entire Asterousia Mountains. The birds wouldn't accept another one.
The bearded vulture is the only bird in the world whose diet consists almost entirely of bones. When these are too large, they break them into pieces on special rocks. A bone diet accounts for 80 percent of their needs.
The bearded vulture lays two eggs when nesting. But the chick, unlike adults, cannot yet digest bones. Chick need meat. However, the Bearded Vulture parents easily lose in the competition for carrion with the Gryffindors. Usually, the older and stronger chick eats its younger brother or sister to survive. This cruel habit allows the species to survive.
During the breeding season, Museum employees try to spread dead rabbits and other small animals around the nest to increase the chances of survival of both chicks.
That is why the feeding stations to which Spiros delivers food are so important.
Spiros agrees to take me and Tom for such feeding.
We meet with Spiros at his house in a village near Heraklion. We leave our car there and go on our trip in his pickup truck. We will go to inaccessible regions of the Asterousia mountains.
Feeding stations are located as far as possible from places frequented by people. Vultures can eat once every 2 - 3 weeks. However, Spiros delivers food to them once a week.
An hour later I'm standing in the corridor of the slaughterhouse. The stench of animal fear makes my hands shake.
- Do you eat meat? - Spiros asks.
- No, we have been vegetarians for 8 years.
- That's good. If you were eating, you would stop after one visit. It's closed today, but sometimes I'm here on working days. The screaming is unbearable.
But you endure, I say.
-Yes. But I know why I'm here. I know why am I doing this. You'd get used to it too, if you had a good reason. - he replies seriously.
I force myself to enter the corridor.
Spiros packs pig heads into a pickup truck. I think it's probably too drastic to show, but after a while I decide it's actually for the best. Anonymous shapeless meat is comfortable, and it has a face. It reminds us that it was someone's body.
Today, apart from one goat, there are only pigs. That's because the holidays are coming. Traditionally, Greeks then eat pork. Lots of pork. Spiros doesn't have enough sacks today. He didn't expect this amount. The last snouts land directly on the back. They look very moving. We go with them on their last journey to the mountains.
The research and feeding station we are going to is located on one of the highest peaks of Asterousi. Crowded into a pickup truck, we drive along a narrow gravel road winding over precipices. The landscape of raw brown and beige and sharp desert gravel suddenly turns into the cold gray of rocks and a pine forest drowning in fog. You can finally open the windows that protected us from the dust clouds. Now the cool smell of pine needles and fog flows into the car.
They won't see us today, says Spiros.
When Spiros goes up on the mountain , they recognize him. They usually wait for him on a rock. When they see a car, they start flying over it, all the way to the feeding place.
They circle above his car as he climbs the gravel road in his 4x4. Sometimes there are over a hundred of them. Today we are invisible.
We reach the gate. Spiros opens the padlock and we go inside. The landscape reminds me of photos of Machu Picchu. The rugged stone peak of the mountain sticks out from the mists. When the weather is nice, you can see the Libyan Sea under the sky.
Spiros scatters pig heads among the remains of goat hooves from previous feedings. I feel transported to the world of the land of dragons. I look at the pig faces falling in the fog. Maybe it's good that they are not just pieces of meat, then it is so easy to forget that they were once alive.
Spiros installs cameras on the branches around the feeding ground, and then we leave the feeding station area for the observation base, which is located several hundred meters away.
A small stone house on the edge of the precipice has windows on different sides, allowing you to watch birds flying from afar. It's just that it's foggy today. The view is majestic. I feel like we're sitting on a cloud.
But we don't see the feeding station, we don't see the vultures. Have they seen us? Do they even know the food has arrived?
We sit in silence. Several minutes pass when suddenly barking sounds can be heard in the fog and echo through the mountains. They came, Spiros whispers. The barking that reminds me of the raptors from Jurasik Park is getting more and more intense. These birds are very loud. Hidden in the fog, they fight each other for food. Their screams echo across the rocks.
Do you think I could come over there? - Tomek asks - Hide between the trees? Can they do something to me?
Vultures don't attack. They simply won't come, or they will run away and won't come back for a long time. - explains Spiros.
To be able to be near the feeding site, you would have to leave the tent there for a month so that they get used to it, and then maybe try to hide inside so that you can take photos up close. Maybe.
We listen to bird cries. The fog, blown away by a light wind, reveals a piece of the slope along which two vultures are squabbling around a pig's face. Spiros aims his rifle-long lens at the sky through the window and photographs a bird flying by.
Tomek moves silently towards the feeding ground to see how close the birds will allow him to get. From our perspective, it gets quite close, although it knows that it cannot get closer to the station itself. The birds pay no attention to him. Tomek films people - I laugh to Spiros - he has such energy that even though he is visible to outsiders, he disappears. It's his talent.
After about an hour, when the birds finish their meal, we return to the feeding ground to collect the cameras. The fog is diluting a bit. Standing among the remains, we see birds sitting on a rock in the distance. We're on our way back.
Back in the office, Spiros copies the photos from the camera he placed in the tree. In fact, some birds have numbers. These are those marked by the Museum. Saved.
All birds are kept in huge cages during treatment.
These cages are built so that the birds can spread their wings and maintain their strength until they are able to face the wild again when it is time for them to return to it. Sometimes they are treated for a year, Spiros tells us.
The actions of releasing vultures into the wild after they return from the hospital are a beautiful spectacle.
We will be releasing some birds soon. - says Spiros.
I hope we will be there to see it.