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In Sardinia, The Eagle Considered Extinct Was Sighted Again After Releases In The Tepilora Natural Park, In Mid-January 2025. Four Bonelli Eagles, Supported By A Subsidy Of €49,800, Begin Repopulation That Started In 2018 And Aims For A Viable Breeding Population By 2030 With Annual Releases Expected.
The eagle considered extinct has taken to the skies again in Sardinia with the release of four Bonelli eagles in the Tepilora Natural Park, in the northwest of the Italian island. The action is part of a long-term program aimed at rebuilding a viable breeding population after the local extinction recorded in the 1990s.
The operation involved European funding, international bird transfer, and measures to support the territory to reduce mortality and increase available food. The goal is to reintroduce a top predator into the system, with a direct impact on the food chain and ecological balance in Mediterranean landscapes that lost key species in the last century.
Where It Happened And What Was Done In Tepilora
The reintroduction took place in the Sardinia, within the Tepilora Natural Park, in a release made in several stages and completed in mid-January 2025.
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The group consisted of three juvenile birds and one adult, returned to nature after preparation and acclimatization.
The eagle considered extinct on the island does not reappear by chance.
The repopulation plan has been in progress since 2018 and received a new boost with a subsidy of €49,800 from the European Wildlife Recovery Fund, linked to Rewilding Europe, allowing releases and post-release monitoring.
Why The Eagle Disappeared In The 1990s
The local extinction in Sardinia, described in the 1990s, was associated with a set of human pressures and dangerous infrastructure.
Among the factors mentioned are egg and chick theft, direct persecution, and collisions with power lines.
This type of loss does not remove just a bird.
It removes an ecological role.
When the eagle considered extinct ceases to exist on an island, it opens the door to historical imbalances in the food chain, with effects that can spread to prey, competitors, and resource availability.
The International Network Behind The Reintroduced Birds
The release was carried out within the LIFE Abilas initiative, funded by the European Union and implemented with multiple partners.
The Spanish NGO GREFA was responsible for the transfer of the birds to Sardinia, with releases supervised by ISPRA, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research.
The origin of the individuals shows the scale of the effort. Three birds were raised in captivity in the French region of Vendée, and the fourth was provided by the regional government of Andalusia, in Spain.
The field operation also includes logistics for transportation, evaluation, and adaptation to a new territory.
Why The Bonelli Eagle Changes The Food Chain
The Bonelli eagle is described as a relatively large raptor, common in mountainous or hilly habitats, emblematic of Mediterranean regions.
The mentioned distribution is wide across Eurasia, from Portugal to Indonesia, and the species still breeds in Sicily, with an estimated around 40 adult individuals.
The mentioned diet helps to explain its ecological role: rabbits, hares, and medium-sized birds, such as doves.
Therefore, the eagle considered extinct is regarded as a keystone species, capable of contributing to healthier and more balanced ecosystems by acting as a key predator at the top of the food chain.
Support Measures To Reduce Mortality And Increase Survival
The return does not only depend on releasing birds.
The European population is described as declining, with 80% concentrated in the Iberian Peninsula, and there are relevant biological obstacles: relatively late sexual maturity and laying a few eggs, which makes recovery slow and reintroduction more demanding.
In Sardinia, the listed measures point to a risk-controlled strategy. They include making power lines safer, protecting small reservoirs and water tanks to prevent drowning, increasing wild rabbit populations, and promoting the use of non-toxic ammunition.
The focus is on reducing recurring causes of death and improving the food base to sustain the presence of the eagle considered extinct in the territory.
The Journey To Release And Post-Freedom Monitoring
The four birds underwent a stepwise process.
First, they stayed at the GREFA Wildlife Center in Majadahonda, near Madrid, for treatment and evaluation.
Then, they were transferred to Sardinia by NGO staff in November of the previous year and remained for weeks in a specially built aviary for acclimatization.
The subsidy also covered critical costs to keep the project running: captive breeding, veterinary care, transportation, and post-release monitoring with GPS tracking and camera traps.
The logic is clear: without data, the eagle considered extinct may disappear again without understanding why.
Goal By 2030 And What Europe Is Trying To Correct Now
The stated plan is to release between six and eight eagles per year until 2030, with the possibility of up to 10 in some years, to form a viable breeding population on the island.
In addition to the €49,800 subsidy, a separate budget of nearly €70,000 was mentioned, which supported the release of seven eagles in 2023, in partnership between GREFA, ISPRA, and Forests, the forestry agency of Sardinia.
In the European scheme, wildlife repopulation is not just a symbolic act.
It is an effort to restore natural processes on land and in the sky, returning vital species to landscapes that lost predators due to persecution, unsafe infrastructure, and habitat degradation.
Practically speaking, the return of the eagle considered extinct exposes the cost of the past century and tests whether current management can sustain the return.
In the end, what is at stake is continuity: release, protect, monitor, and reduce mortality for years, until reproduction stabilizes.
If you follow conservation in Europe, it’s worth keeping a close eye on goals until 2030 and urging that measures like safety on power lines and non-toxic ammunition become routine management practices.
Do you believe that the return of the eagle considered extinct in Sardinia could become a model for other reintroductions in Europe, or does each island require a completely different strategy?
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