Five eagle owls have been released in the Danube Delta rewilding landscape in Ukraine, as part of an ongoing reintroduction programme. The releases mark a significant step forward in efforts to re-establish a viable population of the birds in the landscape and to support the overall health of the delta ecosystem.
New releases take flight
Five Eurasian eagle owls have been released in the Danube Delta rewilding landscape in Ukraine, as part of an ongoing reintroduction programme supporting the return of this ecologically important species. This is the largest single-batch release of eagle owls since the programme began in 2019.
The reintroduction effort, overseen by the Rewilding Ukraine team and funded by the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme, follows a positive feasibility study conducted using IUCN guidelines. The aim is to re-establish a viable population of these apex predators in the landscape. Fifteen owls have now been released, with further releases planned. The first ten birds, all sourced from Odessa Zoo, were released between 2019 and 2021.
Towards a healthier delta landscape
As keystone predators, eagle owls are particularly effective in controlling rodent populations, which can increase significantly in their absence. As the number of eagle owls in the Danube Delta grows, the birds will help to reduce the area’s burgeoning rat population. This, in turn, will benefit many of the bird species that breed here, as rodents consume large numbers of eggs each year.
Eagle owls also hold cultural significance in Ukraine, featuring in many of the country’s fairy tales. As they become more visible in the delta, they may attract more visitors, benefitting local communities through nature-based tourism. Despite the impact of ongoing conflict in Ukraine, rewilding efforts in the Danube Delta continue. This latest release demonstrates resilience and hope for restoring the region’s biodiversity – and, eventually, for attracting international visitors – even in challenging times.
While eagle owls were once widespread in Ukraine, they are now largely restricted to the Polissya region in the north and the Donbas region in the east. Their decline is linked to a pre-1969 eradication campaign, as well as nest disturbance, historic pesticide use, and collisions with power lines. In the Danube Delta, where the species was rarely seen before the reintroduction programme, these threats are no longer present. Eagle owls tend to remain within the same territory unless forced to leave by food shortages or displacement by other owls, making natural recolonisation from other parts of Ukraine unlikely.
Journey into the wild
The five owls released this month came from Limpopo Zoo, located in Ukraine’s Lviv region. Before release, they were transferred to Odessa Zoo to adapt to wild conditions in a controlled environment.
After their stay in Odessa, the owls were moved to a newly constructed adaptation enclosure near Vylkove in the Danube Delta, where they spent several weeks acclimatising to the area.
Keeping track
As with previous releases, the Rewilding Ukraine team will monitor the movement and behaviour of some of the newly released owls using GPS transmitters. The data collected will help guide future rewilding work. While the transmitters fitted to earlier releases have since stopped functioning, the local team remains cautiously optimistic about the birds’ continued presence in the landscape.
“People have reported hearing the owls in both the Ukrainian and Romanian parts of the delta,” says Rewilding Ukraine field officer Oleksandr Gaidash. “So we know for certain that some of the released birds have survived and remain in the area. Eagle owls begin to breed in their second or third year, so signs of population growth will hopefully become apparent in the near future.”
This article was originally published on the Rewilding Europe website. To find out more about the Danube Delta restoration landscape, visit their project page.
