New home for critically endangered parrots

Mon, 03 Oct 2022

Manx charity, Supporters of the Curraghs Wildlife Park (SCWP), has built a new aviary for the Park’s critically endangered Lilacine parrots, Lila and Chester.

The new home provides a lot more flight space for these colourful and charismatic parrots as well as a cosy nest box and lots of branches to climb.

Lila has been at the Park for a while and is 23 years old but her new partner arrived from Chester Zoo earlier in the summer – and is only a few years old. These parrots can live for 50 years and pair for life and, so far, Lila and Chester are getting on very well.  With only a few thousand of these birds left in the wild in Ecuador, population management within zoos is essential to secure their survival.

Kathleen Graham, General Manager of the Curraghs Wildlife Park said: “SCWP’s work parties help us provide the extras that make the Park a great environment for our visitors and animals.  We are part of a network of 400 zoos which work together to manage populations of endangered animals in our care.  We hope that the new aviary with encourage Lila and Chester to breed, thus contributing to our conservation aims”.

 

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