The HARI/ Hagen Group has come forward to sponsor Lifetime memberships for the Loro Parque Fundación to Dr. Lora Kim Joyner of One Earth Conservation and Enrique Pucci of Ara Manzanillo.  The memberships amount to a 4,800 € donation to Loro Parque Fundación. The membership announcements were made by HARI Director Mr. Mark Hagen. 

“HARI/Hagen Group is proud to offer these well-deserving memberships in recognition of Dr. Lora Kim Joyner’s and Enrique Pucci’s accomplishments and dedication to their respective parrot conservation projects.” said HARI Director Mark Hagen.  “There is no better recognition than to support and be a Lifetime member of the Loro Parque Fundación, with the lowest overhead, donations like this go 100 percent to conservation and the largest Parrot Conservation foundation in the world.”

“It is with deep gratitude and appreciation that we extend our sincerest thanks to you for the kind and generous support you have provided throughout the years and once again now,” remarked Loro Parque Fundación Kerstin Urban. “We extend our heartfelt appreciation for recommending these sponsorships to Loro Parque Fundación many months ago, which led to these significant partnerships. Your support bolsters our efforts in safeguarding parrots worldwide, and we are proud to welcome both Dr. Lora Kim Joyner and Enrique Pucci as a valued Lifetime Members of Loro Parque Fundación”.

“We are very honored for the privilege of becoming a Lifetime Members of Loro Parque Foundation,” said Ara Manzanillo President Enrique Pucci and Emily Yozell (life partner of Enrique and a key part of the success of the Ara Manzanillo projects). “The recognition goes to all the people who have passionately worked for 13 years establishing a viable population of Great Green Macaws (Ara ambiguus) in the South Caribbean region of Costa Rica.  We are profoundly grateful to Mark, Josee and all the Hagen Group for their consistent support through this journey of saving this magnificent and emblematic bird.”

2023 update from project Ara Manzanillo

We have crafted and installed twenty artificial nests in a 10k radius from the field station and from this year’s breeding season we banded 10 more Great Green chicks. At present, a new generation of locally born macaws are reaching breeding age, so we expect to continue increasing the population of the spectacular Great Greens (GG). We also have sighted several young non-banded birds as well as couples occupying natural cavities. They never cease to amaze us every day!

Our three core programs continue: the release and monitoring of captive bread and confiscated macaws; the education and outreach program is slowly coming back to life, after 2 years of no in-person classes, schools are back in session; and the nesting program continues to be quite successful, increasing the population of free flying GGs in Costa Rica by 26% and the world population by 6%.  Last year we added a fourth program area, rainforest reforestation focusing on trees that provide food for macaws and other wildlife.  We established a specialized tree nursery and have initiated planting over 50 hectares around the field station. We hired an indigenous part-time forestry professional, who is also a secondary school teacher inside the Bribri territory, and on weekends he brings students to hike the forest, dig and plant trees. To date, we have planted over one thousand trees of carefully selected species that someone’s grandchildren and grand-chicks will enjoy.

Updates from project One Earth Conservation

This year, One Earth Conservation’s Indigenous partners in Guyana documented and visually confirmed the first active endangered sun parakeet nest in that country! There are only a few hundred wild sun parakeets left in Guyana, so finding a nest with chicks is especially meaningful. And, in Honduras, our parrot rangers have been working hard, and putting their lives at risk, to establish and protect an Indigenous wildlife sanctuary to safeguard the critically endangered great green macaw. These are two examples of our parrot conservation projects in Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Suriname.

We also continue to remotely reach more people in the US and other countries with our Nurture Nature program, including successfully launching and completing our first Parrot Conservation Corps (PCC) in Spanish for those who wish to become parrot conservationists and learn how, from where they are, to help those doing “on-the-ground” parrot conservation. Plans are being developed to offer a bilingual PCC in 2024 (in Spanish and English).

• This bird’s protectors are its former hunters: ‘It was my turn to help them’
• One Earth Conservation – 2022 Annual Report

About Ara Manzanillo

The goal of Ara Manzanillo is to ensure the survival of the Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguous) in Costa Rica by reintroducing them into their natural habitat, engaging in scientific research, advocating for tropical forest conservation, and promoting public education. Enrique Pucci, a long-standing advocate for sustainable development in the South Caribbean region of Costa Rica, is a landowner and on-site supporter of the Ara Manzanillo reintroduction site. As a founding member of the non-profit association, he dedicates a significant amount of time to the project now that he is semi-retired. Emily Yozell, Enrique’s life partner, and a key part of the success of the Ara Manzanillo projects, has focused on investigating and litigating human rights violations in Latin America, as well as promoting the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. She co-founded the first public interest environmental litigation project in Central America, Justicia para la Naturaleza, in 1994, which established many crucial environmental legal precedents. Emily is also a founding board member and property owner at the Ara Manzanillo reintroduction site. For more information, please visit www.aramanzanillo.org.

About One Earth Conservation 

One Earth Conservation is dedicated to protecting parrots and their habitats throughout the Americas. By promoting transformative parrot conservation, taking action to end the wildlife trade, and instilling a strong sense of human connection to all life, One Earth Conservation works towards a better world for all. Currently, the organization has ongoing projects in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Guyana, Paraguay, and Suriname. Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner, with her more than 36 years of experience working on front-line conservation in marginalized, and often violent, communities in Central America, has answered the call to support the peoples and parrots of the Americas. She has witnessed the devastating effects of the illegal wildlife trade, which annually claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of parrots. Dr. Joyner and One Earth Conservation’s partners are committed to fighting back and nurturing nature, particularly the many species of parrots that exist in all their splendor. For more information, please visit www.oneearthconservation.org.

About the Loro Parque Fundación

Loro Parque Fundación is an organization that champions animal welfare and biodiversity conservation through various means such as research, education, responsible breeding, and conservation efforts in local communities. They are committed to the recovery of parrots and cetaceans habitats and ecosystems in different areas, working alongside local communities to ensure sustainable development. As an IUCN Species Survival Centre, they provide resources and funding to scientific projects, while also rescuing sick or injured animals and collaborating with authorities to rescue and recover specimens. The organization is dedicated to sustainability, implementing a plan that includes the use of eco-friendly products, optimizing waste management, and creating in-house initiatives. La Vera centre is renowned worldwide for its parrot recovery efforts, with over 350 species and subspecies. Loro Parque Fundación also believes in the importance of environmental education, providing visitors and students at Loro Parque with knowledge and awareness about conservation and biodiversity. For more information, please visit https://www.loroparque-fundacion.org/.

Download the original press release