Three-month-old bearded vulture Khan will be going to the Amnéville zoo in France, the Green Balkans Rescue Center for wild animals has announced. Bearded vultures are a species that has disappeared from Bulgaria. Khan is the first vulture baby that has hatched in the past eight years in this country and environmentalists cannot release it in the wild nature, as it would be the only vulture of its kind in the Balkans. That is why it was decided that Khan should go to a zoo, where he could have offspring of his own that would later return to Bulgaria. Khan will travel to France on board of passenger aircraft. His future female partner has already arrived to the French zoo from Spain. The two birds are expected to have offspring in 8 years.

Khan’s parents are the only bearded vultures that currently live in Bulgaria. The couple arrived to this country eight years ago from Austria.