The president of Fundació Alive, Bernat Garrigós, and the president of the Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural, Álvaro Pérez, have signed a collaboration agreement for the breeding of hermit ibis destined for the Alt de l’Empordà with the aim of providing a new population of ibis in the intermediate area of the migratory route between Austria and Cádiz.
During the recent International Symposium on the Hermit Ibis held in Jerez, the Alive Foundation already signed an agreement with the city council of the town to regulate the transfer of between 15 and 20 ibis chicks by the Zoobotanical of Jerez . In addition to technically assisting the Alive Foundation in the development of the project, regarding acclimatization, release techniques and the establishment of a group of hermit ibis in Catalonia, the city council committed to offering the necessary health advice for the project to develop successfully in the Empordà.
Now, the foundation is taking a step further and signing an agreement with the Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural (SGHN), responsible for the daily care of the Jerez chicks. With this new agreement, the foundation will finance a technician at the SGHN, who will be responsible for coordinating the volunteers from Jerez for the breeding of the Empordà chicks.
In addition, the foundation will finance the materials and food necessary for the hand-rearing of the chicks at the Jerez ZooBotànic and will cover the travel and subsistence expenses of the SGHN staff who must accompany and supervise the transport of the chicks to Empordà.
The SGHN will also establish the hand-rearing protocol as well as the biological data (especially weight) of the specimens, so that future volunteers of the hermit ibis project in the Empordà can be trained in the feeding and maintenance of the chicks.
In parallel, the Alive Foundation is already working on the creation of this volunteer pool who will receive training to help raise the ibis chicks. From June, it is expected that around twenty collaborators, organized in shifts, will participate in the tasks of raising and caring for the chicks within the framework of the Hermit Ibis project.
