Conservation – Aspro Parks

Fundacion Aspro Natura is committed to the protection of endangered wildlife, collaborating with national and international public and private institutions in the development of wildlife conservation projects.

Pilot invasive-bird control programme at the Oasis of Maspalomas and surrounding environment

A pilot invasive-bird control programme was developed throughout the summer of 2007 as part of the Environmental Habitat Conservation & Recovery Project co-sponsored by the Canary Islands Government Department for the Environment and Fundacion La Caixa, developed by Gesplan SAU with authorization granted by both the Council of San Bartolome de Tirajana and the Island Council of Gran Canaria. Palmitos Park and Fundacion Aspro Natura have participated in the project.

Sea Turtle Rescue and Recovery Programme

Since 1993, the Foundation has been running a campaign for support to stranded sea turtles in collaboration with the Species Protection Service of the Balearic Islands’ Government Department, which seeks the following goals: rescue and recovery of specimens, preparation of annual turtle stranding records and development of environmental education programmes.

The Sea Turtle Rescue and Recovery network operates a 24-hour telephone hotline in charge of processing all warnings received by the general emergency hotline 112. All surviving stranded specimens are transferred to Mallorca’s Recovery Centre, where animals are provided the required veterinary services to ensure complete recovery. Once recovered, turtles are sent back to the sea on the shores of Cabrera National Park.

Cetacean Conservation Programme

Since 1993, Fundacion Aspro Natura has been running a Cetacean Conservation Programme in collaboration with the Species Protection Service of the Balearic Islands’ Government Department, which seeks the following goals: organization of cetacean stranding support actions and cetacean sighting campaigns, preparation of annual turtle stranding records and development of environmental education programmes.

Foundation staff systematically organize cetacean stranding support actions and run an information network that operates a 24-hour telephone hotline connected to the general emergency hotline 112. Activities include the preparation of records, gathering biometrical data of all stranded specimens and providing assistance to surviving animals. All dead cetaceans in good state of conservation undergo necropsy and sample taking operations. In addition, both a database and a large photographic archive are kept up-to-date at all times.

Cetacean Sighting Campaign in the Balearic Islands

Fundacion Aspro Natura invites all people sailing in the Balearic Islands to collaborate in the Balearic Sea Cetacean Sighting Campaign. To raise awareness of this campaign, the Foundation holds annually a Weekend Conference attended by many groups of professional and recreational sailors and sympathizers: diving centres, yacht clubs, schools, Balearic ports, marinas and marine business associations.

Would you like to support the Cetacean Sighting Campaign? It’s very easy!

If you sail in Balearic seawaters and sight a cetacean, identify the species, fill out the form and mail it to the Foundation. For further information, please click on this link click here

Ferreret / Mallorcan Midwife Toad Conservation Programme (Alytes muletensis)

The Ferreret or Mallorcan Midwife Toad is a small amphibian that was not discovered by science until 1981 despite the fact that it has been roaming the island of Mallorca for thousands of years. Mallorca is the only home to the Ferreret in the entire world, an island where this toad has been evolving for thousands of years almost completely safe from predators. However, the arrival of human beings coincided with the introduction of non-native predators, which have since profoundly altered the living conditions of this tiny living fossil, to the point that it has all but disappeared from the entire island, except for a few small groups that migrated to the most inaccessible streams and ravines up the Serra de Tramontana and survive today.

The Balearic Government is currently running a Conservation Programme to ensure the survival of the Mallorcan Midwife Toad. Fundacion Aspro Natura has joined this initiative and is now running a captive Ferreret breeding programme. The goals sought through this collaboration include the following: the reintroduction of specimens into their natural habitat in order to increase the number of individuals in areas where populations have dwindled or become extinct; ensuring the maintenance of a genetic reserve for the purpose of preventing possible extinction; and fostering the development of environmental education activities.

Endangered Wildlife Conservation at Aspro Parks’ parks. EEP and ESB programmes. CITES Species Shelter

Fundacion Aspro Natura, through their zoological parks, runs several ex-situ endangered wildlife conservation programmes seeking to further boost biodiversity protection.

Captive Bottlenose Dolphin Breeding (Tursiops truncatus)

The Foundation runs a successful bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) breeding programme at Aqualand Costa Adeje (Tenerife), Marineland (Catalonia) and Boudewijn Seapark Bruges (Belgium). Thanks to this programme, a large number of dolphins were born in captivity in the last ten years. A major success achieved by the programme was the birth of one of the first second-generation calves born in captivity in Europe.

The breeding programme is hailed as one of the best and most successful in Europe, as it has achieved that specimens exceed the critical survival threshold for calves born in captivity (4 years) by 100%.

The success achieved by this programme is due fundamentally to the following factors:

The social stability achieved with dolphin groups. Strict control of and respect for the breeding programme’s cycles (hierarchy, heat, gestation, birth and weaning).
The quality of our facilities.
Separating pregnant females from males.
Early withdrawal of mothers from risk activities or practices that could jeopardize labour.
The excellent skills of the multidisciplinary expert team in charge.

Captive breeding of exotic birds and other endangered species

Fundacion Aspro Natura participates through Aspro Parks’s parks in captive breeding programmes run by EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquarium) within the framework of EEP (European Endangered Species Programmes) and ESB (European Studbooks) programmes, which involve the following species:

EEP Palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus). Marineland Mallorca
EEP Moluccan cockatoo (Cacatúa moluccensis). Palmitos Park.
EEP Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti). Marineland Mallorca, Marineland Catalunya and L’Aquàrium de Barcelona.
EEP Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica). Aqualeon Tarragona
EEP Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Palmitos Park, Marineland Mallorca, Marineland Catalonia, Aqualand Costa Adeje, Tenerife and Boudewijn Seapark Bruges (Belgium).
ESB Brown bear (Ursus arctos). Aqualeon Tarragona.
ESB California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). Marineland Mallorca.
ESB Amazona colirroja (Amazona brasiliensis). Palmitos Park
ESB Southern ground hornbill (Bucorus leadbeateri). Jungle Park.
The Foundation’s centre in Tarragona is home to the only captive herd of Black Lechwe antelope (Kobus leche smithemani) currently existing in Europe. Aspro Parks’ parks work alongside the Department of Trade and Environment by sheltering in their facilities confiscated animals listed in Appendix I of the Washington Agreement (CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Palmitos Park has been providing collaboration services to recovery centres, Customs, SEPRONA (Spanish Civil Guard’s Nature Protection Service) and CITES, sheltering non-recoverable / confiscated specimens and gathering biological material from confiscations for educational purposes.