Balearic Wildlife and New Protection Plans
The Government and Barcelona Zoo have signed an agreement for the conservation of protected wildlife in the Balearic Islands and to mark the occasion, 100 ferrerets (little Balearic frogs) that were bred at the Zoo were released on a farm in the Tramuntana mountain range.
The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, through the Species Protection Service of the Directorate General for the Natural Environment, and the Barcelona Zoo (through the Barcelona Zoo Foundation) have signed a collaboration agreement to undertake conservation activity — outside the natural habitat — and the management and breeding of protected species for the purposes of repopulation or reintroduction into the natural environment. The regional minister Joan Simonet stressed that this agreement, which is valid for four years, “represents a joint effort for the protection and conservation of island biodiversity.”
The first concrete action of this Agreement took place this morning with the release of nearly a hundred ferrerets (Alytes muletensis), one of the most endangered species in the Balearic archipelago, declared in danger of extinction in the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species. The reintroduction of the ferrerets to the natural habitat was carried out on a private estate in the Tramuntana mountain range, with the participation, in addition to the regional minister Joan Simonet, of the director of the Barcelona Zoo, Antoni Alarcón, as well as technicians from the Species Protection Service of the Government and the Barcelona Zoo. “This action is another example of the Government’s commitment to the conservation of protected native fauna and its preservation for future generations,” said Simonet.
Alarcón said that “we are pleased by the signing of this collaboration agreement with the Government of the Balearic Islands. We have been working together on conservation projects for over 15 years, and now this agreement will allow us to collaborate even more for the preservation of biodiversity, a challenge in which zoos are increasingly necessary. The Government will always have us by its side to recover the biodiversity of these islands full of unique species.»
Barcelona Zoo participates in different research, conservation and environmental education programs and has experience in the management of endangered wildlife. With this Agreement, other endangered species such as the ferreret, the Pitiusas wall lizard (Podarcis pityusensis) or the Balearic wall lizard (Podarcis lilfordi), will be focused on.
The collaboration extends to the development of environmental education and awareness projects on the protected wildlife of the Balearic Islands. The agreement provides for the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge between the two institutions and the creation of a Commission to monitor the actions to be carried out within the framework of the Convention.
