Coronavirus in the Canary Islands: Life goes on in Loro Parque - La Provincia

The zoo located in the port nucleus of Punta Brava since 1972 has been active without an audience and its keepers continue to carry out their work, including carrying out the presentations and exhibitions that they usually stage daily with dolphins, killer whales, sea lions, parrots and parrots. This is to "maintain the daily activity of animals, stimulate them and ensure their physical well-being," says the entity.

Life goes on in Loro Parque. The staff of the Puerto de la Cruz zoo not only limits the care of the animals, the gardens and the rest of the facilities, but also continue to make presentations and exhibitions with the animals. despite the absolute absence of public. Nobody enjoys the skills of parrots or marine mammals live, but they can be seen through social networks of what is considered one of the best zoos in the world by its own visitors. Despite the fact that Loro Parque is closed due to the health crisis and the state of alarm decreed by the Government of Spain. The activity does not stop for dolphins, sea lions, killer whales, parrots and parrots. From the park it is emphasized that "these exercises are part of the normal training of these animals, so the caretakers continue to carry them out normally, although without visitors as witnesses." The shows do not only fulfill a function for the public, since, according to the caretakers, they allow the animals to be kept active and that improves their health and well-being. The management of the portuense zoo ensures that these presentations, along with other environmental enrichment activities that make up the animals' routine, "are necessary to ensure their maximum well-being".

Eric Bogden is the head of Marine Mammals at Loro Parque and highlights that "the animals continue to do the presentations because it is mentally stimulating for them, in addition to physical exercise and something I can say they really enjoy. We continue to do our training round , proposing different challenges and teaching them new things "even though the park has temporarily closed its doors.

Montse Buch is responsible for the Loro Show, the first presentation that was made in this zoo founded in late 1972, and explains that the closure of the park does not affect their work with animals: "Every day they need to be active and training is much needed for them to be physically and mentally busy. " What has been modified, in order to safeguard the health of caregivers, is the way of working. The teams have been divided into shifts that do not coincide, although they are in constant communication. "We are the experts in animal care, so we split into two teams and if, for example, something happened to me, I would call the next person, who would take care of everything," explains Bogden. Loro Parque, which defines itself as an "authentic animal embassy", insists that one of its pillars is "to always provide the specimens that live in its facilities with maximum well-being". The zoo located in Punta Brava recalls that it is the only one in Europe that has the "American Certified" Animal Welfare Certification from the prestigious entity American Humane, from the United States.

Loro Parque has also started a campaign on their social networks with the hashtag #EnCasaConLoroParque, through which they are sharing daily content about the activity that takes place in their facilities behind closed doors. There, the animals continue to receive all the care to ensure their maximum well-being and the staff works with all the preventive measures recommended by the authorities to keep them in good health.

The Park's official accounts have reinforced its programming so that, from home, all its followers can continue learning about the important work that this wildlife conservation center does in terms of animal welfare, protection of endangered species, education and awareness .

Nor does the activity of the Loro Parque Fundación cease, which continues with several international projects in progress, such as the one that has allowed them to reintroduce six specimens of the Guayaquil greater green macaw (Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis) into their natural habitat, a success that has been possible thanks to the work of the Fundación Jocotoco and the collaboration of other associations and local communities. This subspecies is critically endangered and only 60 specimens have been counted in the wild.

The objective of this release is to increase this small population and its genetic diversity and thus be able to save the species from extinction more than likely. The Loro Parque Fundación has collaborated technically and financially through five projects in the conservation of this species with an investment of almost $ 500,000 since 1997. It is not the first time that macaws of this subspecies have been released in Ecuador. 14 specimens had been reintroduced before, of which two have had young. On September 13, 2019, the Loro Parque Fundación celebrated 25 years of working for nature. Throughout its history, it has allocated more than 20 million dollars to more than 180 projects on five continents.