CONDOR HUASI is located in ‘La Rinconada of San Pedro’, in the property of Hacienda Zuleta, in the community of ‘La Rinconada’, parish of Angochagua, county of Ibarra, province of Imbabura, Ecuador, South America. The initiative for this project was taken by Dr. Friedman Koster, zoologist and condor expert, and Heide Koster, biologist, with the support of the Galo Plaza Lasso Foundation. The planning, management and performance of the project are now under the supervision of the Foundation, with the technical support of Dr.Friedman and Heide Koster. CONDOR HUASI`s main objective is environmental education, which attempts to raise the level of consciousness of the children and the general population in the area on the importance of the conservation of wildlife and natural resources, with a focus on the conservation of ‘páramos’. We hope to accomplish this through the following measures: 1. To keep in optimal conditions a group of Andean condors that have suffered human aggressions and come from various types of captivity and therefore face an uncertain future. 2. To have at least one couple of condors that will be able to reproduce in the future, with the aim of establishing new colonies of wild condors in specific Ecuadorian locations. 3. By means of educational activities in the communities surrounding Hacienda Zuleta, conservation efforts will be strengthened. CONDOR HUASI`s condors will provide a focus of attention for visitors, to whom it will be easier to educate on the protection of wildlife in the Andes and in other regions of Ecuador. This measure complements the GPL Foundation’s ‘páramo’ wildlife (eg.Spectacled bears) conservation project. 4. To establish a group of semi-captive condors. There is a high probability that this group will make contact with wild condors. This will allow us to obtain valuable and detailed information on wild condor colonies and to establish specific feeding sites for them near CONDOR HUASI. As a result, CONDOR HUASI will be able to support this wild condor colony away from the threat of hunters and poachers. The CONDOR HUASI project has been divided into three stages:
CONDOR HUASI (I) involved the preparation of the cages and the transfer of the condors to their new habitat.CONDOR HUASI (II) includes the educational aspect of the project. The communities located in the surrounding area, with a specific focus on the children, will be educated in order to raise the level of consciousness of environmental conservation.CONDOR HUASI (III) is the final stage of the project. The condors will become accustomed to flying freely around the area, returning each day to the area of ‘La Rinconada of San Pedro’ to spend the night and be fed. |
