Michel Terrasse Pioneer Of The Protection Of Raptors Is Dead

The ornithologist, who multiplied vulture reintroduction operations in France, Europe, South and North America, died on January 13, at the age of 84. Who would have imagined that this pharmacist practicing in la garenne-colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) in the 1960s and 1970s would become one of the greatest protectors of raptors known throughout the world. In the early 1960s, he will be successful in balancing his career as a pharmacist with his new career as an animal filmmaker. He was born on August 11, 1938, in Pont-de-Roide (Doubs).

His first movie, Pyrenees Mountain of Eagles, which was released in 1964, was followed by about 20 other films, such as Le Bal des charognards (1984), Les Oiseaux d'Eléonore (1978), which was filmed in Tunisia, Between Land and Sea (1983), which focused on the ornithological diversity of Aiguillon Bay (Vendée), and The Oued, which was released in 1972 and detailed the beauty and fragility of. Additionally, he produced a number of movies in South America, including Under the Wings of the Condor in 1977, Falklands, Papuan Islands in 1981, and particularly Condors in 1991, which was the product of three years of filming in Argentina, Peru, Chile, and California.

The extraordinary adventure of the griffon vulture reintroduction in the Tarn and Jonte gorges is described in Le Retour du Bouldras, published in 1985. He later served as chief operator during the filming of Jacques Perrin's Le Peuple after directing a 1993 movie about the kestrels that took up residence in some of Paris' most iconic structures, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the dome of the Invalides.

In 2001, a migrant. Conservation initiatives The founding in 1969 of the raptor intervention fund (FIR), which Michel Terrasse heads with his brother Jean-François and hundreds of ardent ornithologists, represents the greatest accomplishment of his life.

Owls were still being nailed to barn doors in the 1960s, and strychnine was still being used to poison buzzards and vultures after they were caught in jaw traps and killed. As a result, vultures became less common in France and throughout Europe.

The peregrine falcon was a species that was severely threatened at the time due to the poisoning of eggs by the chemical DDT or the looting of broods. As soon as the FIR was established, Michel Terrasse started programs to protect and monitor the peregrine falcon nests. As a result of his dynamism and expanding aura, he simultaneously promotes his films through a variety of initiatives to increase awareness among both young and adult audiences.

In the process, the FIR was successful in getting France to pass regulations in 1972 and 1976 protecting all raptors. As a result of the success of these initiatives, sections of the FIR were established in Tunisia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria.

Its main goal is to reestablish healthy populations of the four necrophagous raptor species found in Europe: the griffon and monk vultures, the bearded vulture, and the Egyptian vulture. Up until now, this goal has almost been completed.

The number of necrophagous birds flying over the mountains of the Old Continent is thought to have increased from a few thousand in southern Europe to more than 100,000 individuals, representing all species. By finding a way to change European regulations that forbade leaving domestic herbivores dead, Michel Terrasse was the driving force behind the use of feeding plots, which were first used in the Causses and then gradually spread throughout Europe.

for hygienic reasons outdoors. Technique for mass graves This mass grave technique is very environmentally friendly because it prevents the transportation of animal carcasses and their incineration in addition to giving scavenger vultures a source of food.

With the assistance of mountain breeders, it is this action that will save the raptors. It also works to prevent the dangerous rat poison bromadiolone from being used in the meadows of Auvergne and Franche-Comté, which are home to red kites, an endangered species, and where they breed and hibernate. Michel Terrasse takes on this effort, and it is successful in doing so.

He served as vice-president of both the FIR and the LPO before they merged in 1998, and as a result, he was elected president of the Foundation for the Conservation of Vultures and vice-president of the Foundation for the Conservation of Black Vultures. It encourages, counsels, and disseminates the lessons learned from the French experience to aid in the conservation of all vulture species worldwide, particularly condors in South America and the United States. It also creates action plans to rehabilitate necrophagous species in Africa and India, where populations were once among the most thriving on the planet.

Interestingly, at the end of his life,.

He served as vice-president of both the FIR and the LPO before they merged in 1998, and as a result, he was elected president of the Foundation for the Conservation of Vultures and vice-president of the Foundation for the Conservation of Black Vultures.