The emphasis of the practice, part of the initiative “Nature Academy” of the “Life for Lesser Kestrel” project LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017 implemented by Green Balkans and funded by the Programme LIFE of the EU, was on the Karakachan horses.
Apart from students’ participation in the examination, deworming and collection of samples for disease prevention, they also learned from the project team more about the role of these animals in habitat management in places such as the hunting grounds of the Lesser Kestrel and the Imperial Eagle in the protected area of Sakar, part of NATURA 2000.
Part of the work with farm animals is communicating with local livestock breeders. In this sense, the students had the opportunity to get to know some of the owners of flocks in the area of village Levka, Sakar and to enrich their knowledge regarding grazing animals and the benefits and challenges connected to working with them.
At the end of the two working days, the future veterinary and agricultural specialists visited the Centre for Environmental Protection Activities in Levka, which is part of the work of Green Balkans on the project “Life for Lesser Kestrel”. There, they learned more about our activities to restore this species that disappeared from our country a decade ago and about the opportunities to be included in them as part of the Nature Academy.
