Once again this year, Oasys MiniHollywood is collaborating in the «Lechuza Project» together with CECOUAL of the University of Almeria (UAL), the Society for the Study and Recovery of Almeria’s Biodiversity (SERBAL), the Group for the Rehabilitation of Native Fauna and its Habitat (GREFA) and the Rodalquilar Botanical Garden. This year, the presentation of the project took place in the recently inaugurated Natural History Pavilion of the UAL.

For the fifth year the barn owl (Tyto alba) chicks, protagonists of a large Conservation Programme whose aim is the repopulation of this species in the province of Almeria using the hacking technique, have just arrived from the hand of GREFA. This year, the eight chicks, aged between 30 and 40 days, will be distributed between the UAL and the Rodalquilar Botanical Garden for their distribution throughout the province.

Since the beginning of the project, a total of 36 owl chicks have been released, all of them bred in captivity from irrecoverable specimens that cannot be returned to the wild.

With this project, carried out since 2018, the aim is to raise awareness so that everyone can learn about the importance of the Conservation Programmes for endangered species such as the barn owl. This is on the List of Wildlife Species under Special Protection Regime at a national level, as its populations have been affected by the degradation of its habitat and the disappearance of sustainable agriculture. This has progressively increased the area of development of industrial agriculture and the use of chemical products, which in turn has led to the disappearance of the birds’ natural prey.

The control of the growth of the chicks will be monitored through surveillance cameras that will allow to see their evolution. As well as the first exploration flights near the nest boxes. Until once they feel safe they emancipate by their own will, in search of new territories and reinforcing the autochthonous population.

Oasys MiniHollywood collaborates with «Proyecto Lechuza» from the beginnings to reinforce the population of this species in the province of Almeria, as well as in many other conservation and nature protection projects.