Five rescued owls returned to the wild on World Environment Day

The Junta de Andalucía has released five rescued owls in the Sierra de las Nieves National Park to coincide with World Environment Day on 5 June. The baby birds had fallen from nests in Ronda and Mollina, and had been cared for by the El Boticario recovery centre for threatened species until they had grown enough to survive in the wild without needing help from humans.

They were released at the Mirador de los Jarales, in the municipality of Istán, on the site where the regional government plans to build a new Forestry Defence Centre in the near future at a cost of four million euros. The contract has just been put to tender.

There to take part in the event to set the owls free were the Junta’s spokesperson Elías Bendodo, the deputy minister for Agriculture, Farming, Fishing and Sustainable Development, Carmen Casero and the mayor of Istán, José Miguel Marín.

Elías Bendodo said there could be nowhere better than the Sierra de las Nieves to commemorate World Environment Day, and explained that three of the birds were tawny owls and the other two were little owls, and that they were now able to live independently in their natural habitat.