ABOUT

Program: The Kiwa Centre for Parrot Conservation and Welfare

About

The Kiwa Centre in the United Kingdom is a long-term safe haven for parrots rescued from trade and poor welfare conditions. It boasts spacious flights, expert care and enrichment for the birds.

The facility was born of a need to rescue a companion macaw and over 170 others that were living in small cages in a dark, unclean building with no ventilation. Some were disabled; many were struggling to survive.

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Their main rescuer and sponsor, whose macaw was being housed there, became deeply concerned for their fates and knew he needed to act urgently to save them. After his visit to the old building he reached out to the World Parrot Trust with the idea of rescuing them and building a long-term facility. From the late 2010s on, the WPT has helped local partners to establish protected areas, carry out community education, survey populations, learn to mitigate an increasing wildfire threat, secure breeding areas and nests and support wild chicks in need of extra care.

Immediately, emergency care was provided for the most at-risk birds. After much preparation, including veterinary health checks and disease testing, the birds were moved to their new home, named the Kiwa Centre in honour of the dedicated rescuer's bird. Here the birds could experience the fresh air in the bright outdoors for the first time in their lives and begin their long road to recovery. In February 2020 Kiwa and the others were joined by a group of 50 wild Grey Parrots that had been rescued after being trafficked into eastern Europe. The centre is being developed to function as an emergency base for any future confiscations, allowing the immediate treatment, care, and rehabilitation of trafficked parrots. Recently, WPT's team began an adoptions program for supporting the birds' care and the team at Kiwa built a greenhouse that will provide more food plants and foraging browse for the birds.