Limbe Wildlife Centre

Category: Uncategorized, illegal trade | Date: May 18 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

Back in December 2007 we rescued 1220 African grey parrots of which approximately 700 birds were released within a few weeks of their arrival at the LWC.  The remainder of the parrots had damaged feathers, from the glue that was used to catch them or from being purposefully cut by the hunters.  Each of these injured parrots had their plumage treated back in January 2008, with the help of a veterinary team from the World Parrot Trust, and have been recuperating ever since.  Now, four months later, some of these parrots have shown through their ability to fly strongly in the flight cage that their plumage has recovered and so it is time to begin the final release phase.  

 However the program will be different from the previous releases, as, rather than taking the selected birds to a nearby forest to be set free, we have decided to simply open up their flight cage here at the LWC and allow them to fly off in their own time. 

PHOTO: ROOF OF FLIGHT CAGE IS PEELED BACK TO ENABLE PARROTS TO FLY FREE AT THEIR WILL 

The decision to opt for this LWC-based ‘soft-release’ strategy was taken after we saw how well a few parrots who had escaped from the flight cage were doing living free amongst the trees of the wildlife centre.  So the plan is to simply start adding birds to this ‘escaped’ flock and to continue to provision them with food and water so that they can regain their strength and fitness steadily.  The forests surrounding the town of Limbe are only a short distance away so when the birds are ready we hope that they will simply fly off together.  Flocks of up to 40 African grey parrots are regularly seen flying around the capital city of Yaoundé so living in the small town of Limbe should not be a problem for the greys. Today, Sunday 18^th May, the roof of one of the flight cages was peeled back and the first batch of 12 recovered parrots were freed. 

PHOTO: parrots flying free from cage

So far they are doing well and have joined the ‘escaped’ flock that is resident at the LWC.  The sight of a flock of parrots flying strongly through the trees of the LWC is a truly wonderful sight, all the more so when one considers the absolutely appalling conditions in which they arrived in 6 months ago.   

PHOTO:  Parrot flying at speed!

PHOTO: newly released parrots flying high into a tree in the Limbe Botanic Gardens

A special thank you to the World Parrot Trust, Pro-Widlife, the Born Free Foundation, the Animal Divulgation Trust and the Humane Society for all their support with the parrot rehabilitation.  The process is still ongoing and we have a while before we can say that we are parrot free, but we certainly would not be where we are today without this support.  Thank you.