World sensation: The Spix's Macaw is back /Extinct parrot species is being resettled in Brazil (FOTO)

Schöneiche (ots) - Just in time for this year's World Wildlife Day, today, 52
Spix's Macaw parrots, 49 from the ACTP headquarters in Berlin, 3 from Pairi
Daiza in Belgium, will arrive in Brazil - here, they will be prepared for their
reintroduction and further life in the wild over the next months. More
information on www.act-parrots.org, on www.pressebox.de/newsroom/actp-ev and
#spixsAreComingHome.

This parrot species, which has been considered extinct in the wild for two
decades, has been known worldwide since the movie "Rio", in which a Spix's Macaw
named "Blu" plays the leading role. The excitement is correspondingly great in
Brazil, where the villages of the Caatinga region and Curaçá City in the state
Bahia in the northeast of the country are preparing to receive the birds. The
reintroduction of the Spix's Macaw is part of a larger community program in
Caatinga, which was declared a protected area in 2018, to promote biodiversity
and organic farming. The approximately 7,500 students in the local schools will
be taught about the project and will thus be sensitized to the topic of species
conservation and eco-tourism.

The animals had fallen victim to decades of poaching and the loss of their
natural habitat through cattle breeding and colonisation. Breeding seemed
impossible as only a very small number of birds had survived and the genetic
pool was too limited. So, the first attempts to breed were unsuccessful. In
2012, the Brazilian federal government agency ICMBio, Institute for the
Conservation of Biodiversity, together with several partner organizations
established an Action Plan to increase the captive population, protect the
habitat and promote the reintroduction of the Spix's Macaw.

In 2016, the non-profit organisation ACTP, which has been committed to the
protection, conservation and development of threatened parrot populations and
their habitats since its foundation in 2006, launched the "Spix Release Project"
together with the ICMBio and the support of the Belgian Pairi Daiza Foundation.
In 2018, all Spix stocks were therefore brought together at ACTP in Berlin.
Under the supervision of a team of experts, a critical number of animals have
been bred over the last few years. Fortunately, the captive breeding technology
developed by the holders and the artificial insemination program of Al Wabra
Wildlife Preservation from Qatar, helped increase the small population of 53
birds in 2000 up to 180 healthy parrots today. From these, the first animals are
now to be resettled to their original home.

On March 3, 2020, the birds and their accompanying team of veteranians, animal
keepers, biologists, members of the Brazilian government and cameramen will fly
in a specially chartered aircraft to Petrolina in the Brazilian state of
Pernambuco, not far from the parrots' new destination: a large breeding and
release center near Curaçá, in the state of Bahia. It is located on a 45 hectare
site in the protected Caatinga area. Here, the parrots will be prepared for
their life in the wild. In 2021, the first group of Spix's Macaws will be
released into the wild.

About ACTP

Association for the Conservation of Threatend Parrots (ACTP) is a registered
non-profit association. The association was founded in 2006 and has its
headquarters in Berlin. It is dedicated to the protection, conservation and
development of threatened parrot populations and their habitats. In 2008, the
association bred the first Spix's Macaws in Berlin. More information on
www.act-parrots.org, on www.pressebox.de/newsroom/actp-ev and
#spixsAreComingHome.

About ICMBio

Federal agency, responsible for the conservation programs in Brazil. It is the
coordinator of the Spix's Macaw Action Plan and Captive Breeding Program. It is
the manager of the Spix's Macaw Wildlife Refugee and Environmental Protected
Area.

About Pairi Daiza Foundation

Pairi Daiza Foundation is a non-profit association, housed by the Pairi Daiza
zoo in Brugelette, Belgium, that aims to manage and protect nature reserves and
threatened animals all over the world. In addition to the pedagogical role of
showing the wonders of biodiversity and sensitizing visitors, the Pairi Daiza
Foundation wants to go further and give back to nature what it has given us.

Contact:

ACTP: press@act-parrots.eu,
+49 151 53114473
ICMBIO: comunicacao@icmbio.gov.br
Pairi Daiza: mathieu.goedefroy@pairidaiza.eu (English),
claire.gilissen@pairidaiza.eu (French)

Additional content: https://www.presseportal.de/pm/116276/4535822
OTS: ACTP e. V.

Original-Content von: ACTP e. V., übermittelt durch news aktuell