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| CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES (IN-SITU): | Fundacion Aspro Natura is committed to the protection of endangered wildlife, collaborating with national and international public and private institutions in the development of wildlife conservation projects. | |||
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| Komodo Dragon Programme |
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| Fundacion Aspro Natura, through Palmitos Park located in Gran Canaria, provides financial support to the project “EAZA EEP Komodo Dragon field conservation programme: Wae Wuul nature reserve rehabilitation project, West Flores, Indonesia”. This conservation project is carried out in the Eastern districts of Flores Island (Indonesia). This programme includes activities such as education, raising awareness among local communities, providing support to local ranger patrols and fostering wildlife conservation. In addition, it also includes initiatives addressed to discourage natives from hunting deer and to provide them with alternatives —as deer are Komodo Dragon’s staple diet. | ||||
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Pilot invasive-bird control programme at the Oasis of Maspalomas and surrounding environment | A pilot invasive-bird control programme was developed throughout the summer of 2007 as part of the Environmental Habitat Conservation & Recovery Project co-sponsored by the Canary Islands Government Department for the Environment and Fundacion La Caixa, developed by Gesplan SAU with authorization granted by both the Council of San Bartolome de Tirajana and the Island Council of Gran Canaria. Palmitos Park and Fundacion Aspro Natura have participated in the project. | ||
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| Southern Ground Hornbill Programme (Bucorvus leadbeateri) |
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| Fundacion Aspro Natura, through Palmitos Park, provides support to the Southern Ground Hornbill conservation programme known as “Mabula: The Ground Hornbill Research & Conservation Project”. The foundation provides blood samples taken from specimens held at Palmitos Park for the development of genetic research designed to establish action strategies that lead to the protection of wildlife populations. | ||||
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Sea Turtle Rescue and Recovery Programme | Since 1993, the Foundation has been running a campaign for support to stranded sea turtles in collaboration with the Species Protection Service of the Balearic Islands’ Government Department, which seeks the following goals: rescue and recovery of specimens, preparation of annual turtle stranding records and development of environmental education programmes. The Sea Turtle Rescue and Recovery network operates a 24-hour telephone hotline in charge of processing all warnings received by the general emergency hotline 112. All surviving stranded specimens are transferred to Mallorca’s Recovery Centre, where animals are provided the required veterinary services to ensure complete recovery. Once recovered, turtles are sent back to the sea on the shores of Cabrera National Park. |
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| Cetacean Conservation Programme |
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Since 1993, Fundacion Aspro Natura has been running a Cetacean Conservation Programme in collaboration with the Species Protection Service of the Balearic Islands’ Government Department, which seeks the following goals: organization of cetacean stranding support actions and cetacean sighting campaigns, preparation of annual turtle stranding records and development of environmental education programmes. Foundation staff systematically organize cetacean stranding support actions and run an information network that operates a 24-hour telephone hotline connected to the general emergency hotline 112. Activities include the preparation of records, gathering biometrical data of all stranded specimens and providing assistance to surviving animals. All dead cetaceans in good state of conservation undergo necropsy and sample taking operations. In addition, both a database and a large photographic archive are kept up-to-date at all times. |
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Cetacean Sighting Campaign in the Balearic Islands | Fundacion Aspro Natura invites all people sailing in the Balearic Islands to collaborate in the Balearic Sea Cetacean Sighting Campaign. To raise awareness of this campaign, the Foundation holds annually a Weekend Conference attended by many groups of professional and recreational sailors and sympathizers: diving centres, yacht clubs, schools, Balearic ports, marinas and marine business associations. Would you like to support the Cetacean Sighting Campaign? It’s very easy! If you sail in Balearic seawaters and sight a cetacean, identify the species, fill out the form and mail it to the Foundation. For further information, please click on this link click here |
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| Ferreret / Mallorcan Midwife Toad Conservation Programme (Alytes muletensis) |
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The Ferreret or Mallorcan Midwife Toad is a small amphibian that was not discovered by science until 1981 despite the fact that it has been roaming the island of Mallorca for thousands of years. Mallorca is the only home to the Ferreret in the entire world, an island where this toad has been evolving for thousands of years almost completely safe from predators. However, the arrival of human beings coincided with the introduction of non-native predators, which have since profoundly altered the living conditions of this tiny living fossil, to the point that it has all but disappeared from the entire island, except for a few small groups that migrated to the most inaccessible streams and ravines up the Serra de Tramontana and survive today. The Balearic Government is currently running a Conservation Programme to ensure the survival of the Mallorcan Midwife Toad. Fundacion Aspro Natura has joined this initiative and is now running a captive Ferreret breeding programme. The goals sought through this collaboration include the following: the reintroduction of specimens into their natural habitat in order to increase the number of individuals in areas where populations have dwindled or become extinct; ensuring the maintenance of a genetic reserve for the purpose of preventing possible extinction; and fostering the development of environmental education activities. |
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| CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES (EX-SITU): | Fundacion Aspro Natura is committed to the protection of endangered wildlife, collaborating with national and international public and private institutions in the development of wildlife conservation projects. | |||
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| Endangered Wildlife Conservation at Aspro’s parks. EEP and ESB programmes. CITES Species Shelter | ||||
| Fundacion Aspro Natura, through their zoological parks, runs several ex-situ endangered wildlife conservation programmes seeking to further boost biodiversity protection. | ||||
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Captive Bottlenose Dolphin Breeding (Tursiops truncatus) | The Foundation runs a successful bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) breeding programme at Aqualand Costa Adeje (Tenerife), Marineland (Catalonia) and Boudewijn Seapark Bruges (Belgium). Thanks to this programme, a large number of dolphins were born in captivity in the last ten years. A major success achieved by the programme was the birth of one of the first second-generation calves born in captivity in Europe. The breeding programme is hailed as one of the best and most successful in Europe, as it has achieved that specimens exceed the critical survival threshold for calves born in captivity (4 years) by 100%. The success achieved by this programme is due fundamentally to the following factors:
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| Captive breeding of exotic birds and other endangered species | ||||
The Palmitos Park Breeding Station in Gran Canaria is one of the most successful captive breeding centres of Psittacidae birds in Europe. Since the creation and launch of the station in 1972, the station has achieved worldwide recognition and prestige as a specialist breeder and keeper of parrots including species such as Amazona pretrei and Amazona brasilienis. The station has also achieved a spectacular success breeding endangered species such as the Palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) and the Hyacinth macaw (Anodorynchus hyacinthinus). In addition, Fundacion Aspro Natura participates through Aspro’s parks in captive breeding programmes run by EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquarium) within the framework of EEP (European Endangered Species Programmes) and ESB (European Studbooks) programmes, which involve the following species:
The Foundation’s centre in Tarragona is home to the only captive herd of Black Lechwe antelope (Kobus leche smithemani) currently existing in Europe. Grupo Aspro’s parks work alongside the Department of Trade and Environment by sheltering in their facilities confiscated animals listed in Appendix I of the Washington Agreement (CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Palmitos Park has been providing collaboration services to recovery centres, Customs, SEPRONA (Spanish Civil Guard’s Nature Protection Service) and CITES, sheltering non-recoverable / confiscated specimens and gathering biological material from confiscations for educational purposes. |
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