Endangered birds safe at N/a’ankusê
News in short
Nine endangered birds arrived safely at the N/a’ankusê Wildlife Sanctuary last week after a Windhoek High Court interdict ordered that they be moved from the Rare and Endangered Species Trust.
On 3 January, a team from N/a’ankusê boarded a small plane to Otjiwarongo to fetch the birds.
"We decided to use the plane to reduce the stress on the birds and make the transport as smooth as possible," Colette Massier said.
The nine birds include a Cape vulture breeding pair and their newly hatched chick as well as two tawny eagles, a bateleur eagle, an African hawk-eagle, a giant eagle-owl and a spotted eagle-owl.
"It is estimated that there are only about 20 Cape vulture breeding pairs left in Namibia. Once the chick - which has been named Phoenix - is strong enough and old enough, it will be released. Phoenix will be a welcome addition to the species and its survival. Unfortunately, the other birds cannot be released because they all ended up in captivity after they were run over by vehicles. They have physical ailments that do not allow their release into the wild. Besides, all the birds except Phoenix are tame.”
On 3 January, a team from N/a’ankusê boarded a small plane to Otjiwarongo to fetch the birds.
"We decided to use the plane to reduce the stress on the birds and make the transport as smooth as possible," Colette Massier said.
The nine birds include a Cape vulture breeding pair and their newly hatched chick as well as two tawny eagles, a bateleur eagle, an African hawk-eagle, a giant eagle-owl and a spotted eagle-owl.
"It is estimated that there are only about 20 Cape vulture breeding pairs left in Namibia. Once the chick - which has been named Phoenix - is strong enough and old enough, it will be released. Phoenix will be a welcome addition to the species and its survival. Unfortunately, the other birds cannot be released because they all ended up in captivity after they were run over by vehicles. They have physical ailments that do not allow their release into the wild. Besides, all the birds except Phoenix are tame.”
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Namibian Sun
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