| |
|
|
| |
About ABOPS |
|
| |
The African Bird of Prey Sanctuary is dedicated to the conservation of
indigenous raptors and is base to ongoing research, breeding and
rehabilitation projects for birds of prey. The majority of these
projects run ‘behind the scenes’ to ensure that the integrity of the
wild birds is not compromised and that a high release success rate is
achieved. The sanctuary is, however, also home to a wide selection of
captive-bred or ‘non-releasable rehabilitation’ birds. These raptors can
be viewed in their ‘micro-environment’ enclosures by anyone who wishes
to visit and learn about South Africa’s magnificent aerial predators.
Education and public awareness is paramount to the effective
conservation of our environment and its creatures. To facilitate this, a
specially trained group of raptors are flown in daily flight displays.
These demonstrations allow the raptors themselves to become both
teachers and ambassadors for their wild counterparts, so that members of
the� audience can experience these normally rare and elusive birds first
hand.
The African Bird of Prey Sanctuary opened quietly in June
2006, but is an amalgamation of various projects that have been ongoing
in KZN for the previous five years. The sanctuary is headed up by
husband and wife team, Ben and Shannon Hoffman and cares for over 180
different birds of prey of 50 different species.� Although the sanctuary
is situated on 60 hectares of scenic valley bushveld, it is within easy
reach of both Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Partnering this project is
the Mayibuye community, who own the land on which the sanctuary is built
and share a percentage of all gate takings. The centre is also base to
the African Raptor Trust (No. IT 1467/2005), of which the specialist
rehabilitation facility ‘Raptor Rescue’ is currently the primary working
group.
Source: official web of
ABOPS (2010)
|
|
|
|
|
