JANE GOODALL SETS SEIZED PARROTS FREE ON NGAMBA ISLAND
(Posted 11th July 2013)
The latest visit by Dr. Jane Goodall to Ngamba Island, Uganda’s chimpanzee refuge in Lake Victoria, was full of action as she released 17 surviving African Grey parrots into the wild, after an additional four months quarantine period of monitoring their health was over.
The birds were part of a consignment, illegally shipped to Europe and confiscated some time back in Bulgaria, from where in a mercy mission of sorts they were repatriated to Uganda. The 17 parrots are the sole survivors of what was initially dozens more, many of which expired due to the stress over the way they were packed tight in unbefitting boxes and left without food and water during their transit to Budapest.
Jane Goodall pulled the proverbial string a few days ago and set the birds free on the chimp island, releasing them from the aviary where they have been kept. The birds, returned to their natural habitat, can now either stay in the forest of the island where undoubtedly they would enrich the visitor experience or else fly to neighbouring islands or the mainland for a life in renewed freedom. Congratulations to the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe, the first point where the birds stayed upon arrival at the nearby Entebbe International Airport and were inspected and treated by UWEC and UWA vets, before the decision was taken to bring them to Ngamba Island and prepare them for release back into the wild. Visit www.ngambaisland.org for more information about the conservation work with chimpanzees, all of whom were rescued from captivity when found with illegal traders or at the airport in concealed boxes ready to be shipped overseas.
