Airline helps hatch lifesaving skills

Sunday 07 December 2014

A local airline has been helping make sure some special cargo takes flight.

Blue Islands has been flying batches of eggs into the Island to help Durrell save some of the world’s rarest birds.

Twenty conservationists from eleven different countries also flew in to take part in the conservation trust’s specialist training workshop and learn the latest incubation techniques and how to make every precious egg count.

Durrell Conservation Academy Manager Dr Tim Wright said: “We are greatly indebted to Blue Islands for their generosity and help in carefully flying in the precious eggs needed for this workshop. It is this kind of hands-on practical training that allows Durrell to make a positive contribution to conservation, through building capacity in the conservation community worldwide”.

Two renowned bird experts – Susie Kasielke and Colleen Lynch who are bird curators at Los Angeles and Riverbanks Zoos - led the workshop and taught fellow conservationists about egg development and the hatching process and how to help chicks struggling to hatch on their own.

They also learnt how vital the incubation process is in helping to save some of the world's rarest birds like the Californian condor, Madagascar pochard and Galapagos Mangrove Finch.

Durrell’s residents are no strangers to Blue Islands’ flights – a number of them have been transported by the airline over the last few years including a young male critically endangered Alaotran Gentle Lemur that flew off to the Isle of Man.