150 organizations from 45 countries participated in the International Vulture Awareness Day. KuzeyDoga Society was the only participant from Turkey in the International Vulture Awareness Day on September 5 2009 (www.ivad09.org/).

http://www.ivad09.org/Organisation.php?code=179

Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction.

The International Vulture Awareness Day has grown from Vulture Awareness Days run by the Birds of Prey Working Group in South Africa and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England, who decided to work together and expand the initiative into an international event.

KuzeyDoga sent out a press release to the local and national press here in Kars province in northeastern Turkey. Here, four species of vultures (Egyptian, cinereous, griffon and bearded vultures) nest in the region and can be observed in good numbers. We also gave information on the importance of vultures for ecosystems and on the crisis of disappearing vultures worldwide. We emphasized the importance of Kars and Igdir provinces for vulture conservation in Turkey, explained our vulture conservation and research work in the region, and summarized our efforts to establish the first vulture restaurant in Turkey.