Finally some great news: Confiscated individuals of the endangered Vinaceous Amazon (Amazona vinacea) were released in a national park in southern Brazil. This work carried out by a small NGO that can accomplish big feats - R3 Animal - http://www.en.r3animal.org.br/ represents something extremely important.
Even though it is only 13 birds the significance of this is huge as this species was previously extinct in this area and it also opens a new chapter involving releases in Brazil as it was done inside a national park, which was always viewed by many as prohibitive and dangerous in this “pristine” environment (is it pristine if this and so many other species were totally wiped out by humans? Is it pristine in a world with climate changes caused by us?).
Well enough chatter let the pictures speak for themselves:
Nearby area to the release site:
Local farm of sympathetic landowners:
Forest trail going into the release area:
Trees with hollow cavities perfect for nesting:
Large flight built and the residents:
Our hot/muddy-mosquito/flies filed camping site (anything for the parrots), set up right next to the enclosure:
Birds are trained to recognize wild food types:
Collecting wild fruits every morning is good for the parrrots but not so much for your back!
Birds fitted with radio collars. They were previously adapted by using dummy collars so the real ones really didn’t bother them or negatively affected their flight due weight (8 grams):
Release day means soft release - let them leave at their own pace:
Several feeding stations are necessary to give support and estimulate birds to expand their flights:
This project was possible thank to the involvement and support of many dedicated people and organizations: R3 Animal, Santa Catarina University (UFSC), IBAMA, CEMAVE/ICMBio, Santa Catarina Environmental Police, University of Sao Paulo (Preventive Veterinary Medicine Department) and FAPESP. WPT provided financial funds thanks to the FlyFree program for health exams, veterinarian and technical advisor and providing the equipments for radio telemetry.
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