When We Began Charging for Parking - or, On Vultures, Kestrels and Gazelles

Last September was the first time that visitors to Ramat Hanadiv paid for parking; this step was accompanied by countless meetings and a long, strategic process that culminated in updating and informing our future visitors, neighbouring settlements and municipalities, and of course, our partners in education and tourism.

It’s not easy to make an unpopular decision, but when the motive to charge for parking comes from a desire to expand and strengthen our work and view our visitors as partners in our mission, it becomes very complex; therefore, during our strategic meeting we decided to focus on three wildlife conservation topics in which we decided to expand our work.

After one year we have decided to share with you – our partners, those whose visits, involvement, and participation have allowed us to raise our work to a new level and reinforce the wild animal populations at Ramat Hanadiv – what we have done in recent years for our three chosen animals: vultures, kestrels, and gazelles.

Strengthening the Vulture Population

The state of the vultures in Israel is worrying.

Even in places that were previously considered attractive for vultures, their presence is dwindling; their numbers are currently raising concerns among nature conservationists, and a significant effort is being made to reinforce and strengthen their population in Israel.

Ramat Hanadiv is part of this same resuscitation machine that is fighting for their existence.

The vulture breeding nucleus is located at Ramat Hanadiv. Controlled breeding (in captivity) is essential to protect and strengthen the population:

Controlled breeding (in captivity) is essential to protect and strengthen the vultures population

the vulture reaches sexual maturity at the age of about four, an relatively advanced age compared to other animals; their incubation period is particularly long; they usually lay only one egg per year; and they care for their chick very intensively. All of these facts make the effort to protect each vulture particularly critical.

In the breeding nucleus the pairs lay the eggs, which are removed and transferred to an incubator to increase the chick’s chances of survival. The laying of a ‘reserve egg’ – an additional egg that is laid by each pair – increases the total number of eggs laid. The chicks are returned to be cared by the (not necessarily biological) parents. If there is a problem, the parents are replaced by a caregiver who feeds the chicks using a vulture doll so that they don’t get used to people.

The chicks grow up in a special compartment that overlooks the vulture cage, and they gradually acclimatize and are given the tools to survive outside.

When the chick is strong and independent, at the age of about four months, it is transferred to the acclimation space for a period of about two years. The reason that the vultures are released to nature at a relatively late age is that young individuals tend to fly to great distances. In our region, a vulture that is released too early may fly too far away and find itself shot to death in a country that allows such activity.

We release the vultures in a controlled, soft way, in the Camel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve or at Gamla.

The survival of vultures reared in this way is similar to the survival of vultures in nature in environments where humans are less present; they may live for up to 25 years.

Lesser kestrels from around the country are brought to Ramat Hanadiv after being found injured by concerned citizens and transferred for treatment at the Israeli Wildlife Hospital in Ramat Gan. At Ramat Hanadiv, they undergo a process of soft release that simulates the way they are reared in nature.

The Lesser Kestrel

The lesser kestrel is the smallest raptor in Israel and it breeds in colonies, near humans.
Lesser kestrels from around the country are brought to Ramat Hanadiv after being found injured by concerned citizens and transferred for treatment at the Israeli Wildlife Hospital in Ramat Gan, which is run jointly by the Safari Zoo in Ramat Gan and Israel Nature and Parks Authority. At Ramat Hanadiv, they undergo a process of soft release that simulates the way they are reared in nature. The fledglings do not fly all at once, but rather build up strength, acclimatize, and then “fly away”. In the absence of parents we keep them in a cage that is open to the landscape and provide them with food; we release them when their chances of survival and strength increase.

Not much is known about lesser kestrel migration. They reach Israel at the end of winter, breed here, and leave in the summer. Once, a female kestrel was tracked all the way to Turkey, but the connection was lost and we still do not know what happened to her. It is very difficult to attach transmitters to lesser kestrels because they are small and migratory and the costs are very high. To date, our attempts have not provided adequate results.

Ramat Hanadiv serves as a release site. Currently, most of the lesser kestrels arrive after being injured and taken by compassionate citizens to volunteers who make sure they are transferred quickly for treatment at the wildlife hospital. Towards their release the lesser kestrels are transferred to Ramat Hanadiv for loving, controlled, soft release.

The great effort we are making here for the gazelles is to create an ecological corridor, a continuous strip of land that connects the natural areas

Gazelles

Around the time of the country’s establishment, there were about 500 individuals living in Israel; it had already been hunted to extinction in neighbouring countries when live weapons were brought into large population centres. Gazelles particularly enjoy hilly environments and in Israel they are found from the southern Negev to the Mt. Hermon foothills. At that time there were many gazelles throughout the region. Local archaeology has also revealed evidence of many gazelles, indicating their presence in ancient times.

Throughout the country there is a trend towards small, isolated populations; in a reality characterized by roads and construction, relatively small populations are trapped in isolated areas. This description also fits the situation at Ramat Hanadiv. The great effort we are making here for the gazelles is to create an ecological corridor, a continuous strip of land that connects the natural areas.

In recent years a move was made to include an ecological corridor in the development of the “Wine Park” in Zihkron Ya’akov, but its width was defined as 50 m. A strong public campaign successfully led to the expansion of the ecological corridor to 300 m.

The gazelle breeding season usually takes place around December, and most of the births occur in the spring. Since they are free in nature, we don’t always know about the birth of a gazelle and even have difficulty locating each of the gazelles in the park. In recent years the number of jackals is increasing; this challenges the gazelles, particularly the young fawns.

Currently, a new campaign is being launched, calling drivers on nearby roads to travel slowly and protect wildlife, including the gazelles; one critical mistake could bring them to the road and cause their death.

Thank you for helping us to protect the vultures, kestrels and gazelles; thanks to you we can do it even better!

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