"What's up handsome? or “What's up beautiful?” The crow Alfonso asks visitors to the Pyrenees Zoo in Odén, in Lleida. The talking crow and the foxes Guille and Nikki and the eagle owl Máxima are the biggest attractions of the Pirineu Zoo, in Odén, in Lleida, where you can see the wild animals that after passing through their rescue center are not in good condition. of being released. Last year the rescue center collected 372 animals and released 227.
“The talking crow and the foxes are what people who visit us like the most,” says Stania Kuspertova, director of the The Pirineu Zoo Foundation is a private NGO that is financed with the entrance fees of visitors to the shelter, fees membership, animal sponsorship and donations.
“We try to ensure that animals that can return to nature do not have contact with people. Those with permanent injuries will stay at the shelter. There are about 180, we have eagles, foxes, roe deer, wild boars, a chamois, a talking crow, hedgehogs, turtles, many owls. We have many birds of prey,” explains Stania Kuspertova, director of the center. This Holy Week 1,600 people visited it.
Laia Sanchez, veterinarian at the Pirineu Zoo, regrets that some animals have arrived too late to survive or to be returned to nature. “Some babies, she says, have been saved by individuals, they have spent a lot of time in their home and have become tame, making it very difficult for them to return to a wild habitat. Other animals, due to the lack of correct nutrition before arriving at the shelter, show permanent deformations that prevent their reintroduction into the wild.
The director insists that, sometimes, people try to help but don't know how: "If these animals come directly here, they have a better chance of returning to nature."
The foundation has signed a collaboration agreement with the Government of Castilla-La Mancha to shelter animals rescued in this community that cannot return to nature. It has committed to hosting and caring for two injured booted eagles and a humanized black crow.
During the almost 10 years of its operation, the zoo has also collaborated with the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Regional Government of Andalusia and takes care of 161 irrecoverable animals of 59 different species. 44% are animals of protected species.
