Banham to Bavaria - How a zoo has been helping Ural owl numbers to recover in a German forest

An owl breeding programme, which has been boosted by two ural owls from Banham Zoo , is set to take flight in Germany.

The Norfolk attraction donated two of its birds to Amiens Zoo in France at the start of 2018. The two successfully bred and four chicks were born, with the offspring now rehomed as part of a reintroduction programme in Germany.

Organised by The Association for Landscape Management and Species Protection in Bavaria, the programme has seen the two male and two female chicks introduced into a protected area of Bavarian forest.

The chicks have been transferred to an aviary, where they will be given time to acclimatise to their new surroundings.

After a month, the door to their aviary will be opened so the owls can access the wider forest.

Gary Batters (pictured below), joint managing director at the Zoological Society of East Anglia, which runs Banham Zoo, said: “Conservation is an important part of what we do here and we are so proud to support the ural owl reintroduction project.

“We will continue to support projects such as this one in order to be able to make a positive difference to animals locally, nationally and globally.”

Poor forestry management practices and hunting had seen the ural owl become locally extinct in Bavaria, but the species will now continue its revival with the four new additions joining seven ural owls released into the forest in 2019.

For more on Banham Zoo, click here .