Meet Our Director

Animal care is important at all levels:
breeders, retailers, adoption facilities, and of
course consumers. I still support and help at
all those levels with a passion.

Mark Hagen

The Director of Research for Rolf C. Hagen Inc. and for the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute (HARI), Mark earned his Master of Agriculture Degree at the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario Canada), specializing in Psittacine Aviculture.

During the course of obtaining his Bachelor of Science, Mark concentrated on nutrition and zoology (including attending a semester at the University of California, Davis), taking additional courses in cage bird medicine, nutrition and avian science.

In 1985, Mark founded HARI (located in Rigaud, Quebec) and applied his practical avian design knowledge to create the state-of-the-art facility. 

Over the course of its 37+ years in operation, HARI has gained a worldwide reputation for its ongoing studies into captive breeding, maintenance, and nutrition of companion birds. Current areas of study include healthy life cycle, pair bonding, nutrition, early parrot education, and the influence of temperature, humidity and light cycles on breeding.

A firm believer in sharing his knowledge and experiences, Mark has published dozens of papers relating to the work at HARI, including egg incubation, seed nutrition, formulated diets, husbandry,  sanitation and pediatric care. Many of his papers have been presented at avicultural conferences around the globe including the USA, Canada,  Australia, and Ireland.

Not only dedicated to the improvement of parrot care in captivity, Mark has also been deeply involved in supporting the avian community and conservation projects around the globe, providing personal as-well-as Hagen funding to a variety of organizations, including the Loro Parque Foundation, Ara Manzanillo, the Belize Bird Rescue World Wildlife Fund, and Parrots International, One Earth Conservation, and many others. He consistently coordinates monthly donations of Tropican food and other avian products to parrot shelters and rescues around the world.

With conservation being just one of his many passions, Mark travels around the world to directly experience birds in their natural habitat and to ascertain ways of improving their plight. He has personally seen over 50 parrot species where they naturally occur on most continents.

Mark was on the board of directors of the USA based Pet Care Trust for 10 years and is presently on the Canadian Pet Industries Joint Advisors Council.