We are exci­ted to sha­re a new pro­ject for 2025. Last year, we sub­mit­ted a pro­po­sal titled “Pre­ser­ving Natu­ral Heri­ta­ge in Eas­tern Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic of Con­go through the Reha­bi­li­ta­tion of Grey Parrots and Envi­ron­men­tal Edu­ca­tion” to the Bar­ce­lo­na Zoo Foundation’s con­ser­va­tion and research pro­gram, and we were awar­ded €3,000 to build a new faci­lity for the grey parrots living at CRPL, Lwi­ro Primates.

The­se parrots can­not be retur­ned to the wild becau­se of per­ma­nent inju­ries or long-term con­se­quen­ces of being cap­tu­red for the ille­gal pet trade.

Although CRPL is pri­ma­rily a pri­ma­te reha­bi­li­ta­tion cen­ter, it also recei­ves grey parrots each year. Sin­ce its crea­tion, the cen­ter has suc­cess­fully rein­tro­du­ced 70 grey parrots into the wild.

The new faci­lity will hou­se 15 non-relea­sa­ble parrots and will inclu­de nes­ting boxes to encou­ra­ge bree­ding, hel­ping sup­port futu­re rein­tro­duc­tion efforts. Currently, the­se birds are kept in an area that is clo­sed to visi­tors and school groups in order to main­tain a calm envi­ron­ment whi­le they are in qua­ran­ti­ne.  With the cons­truc­tion of this new faci­lity, visi­tors will also be able to learn about the con­ser­va­tion sta­tus and pro­tec­tion of this species.

SOS Pri­ma­tes has always empha­si­zed that wild ani­mals are not sui­ta­ble as pets, and we strongly dis­cou­ra­ge this prac­ti­ce, par­ti­cu­larly when peo­ple do not ensu­re the legal and ethi­cal ori­gin of the ani­mals they acquire.

The Bar­ce­lo­na Zoo Foun­da­tion sup­ports a wide ran­ge of con­ser­va­tion pro­jects for endan­ge­red wild­li­fe and their habi­tats. Through edu­ca­tion, research, and con­ser­va­tion work, it con­tri­bu­tes to bio­di­ver­sity pro­tec­tion, know­led­ge gene­ra­tion, and public awa­re­ness about natu­re conservation.

We would like to thank the Bar­ce­lo­na Zoo Foun­da­tion for their sup­port and will keep you upda­ted on the pro­gress of the cons­truc­tion, although the current con­flict situa­tion in the country con­ti­nues to make work challenging.