Loro Parque


Loro Parque or 'Loro Park' is a zoo on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife, Spain where it houses an extensive and diverse reserve of animal and plant species. The park was conceived as a paradise for parrots and has developed over the years into one of the biggest attractions of the Canary Islands, with over 40 million visitors. The park keeps orcas, which has attracted criticism from some organisations.

History

Since 1972 when the park was founded by Wolfgang Kiessling and opened on with 150 parrots, it has grown to and is home to some 4000 parrots representing 350 species and sub-species, as well as many other animals. This parrot collection is the largest in the world and makes the park one of the main references in the study and conservation of these animals worldwide.
Other records the park has set include Europe's largest dolphin show pool, the world's largest indoor penguin exhibition, the longest shark tunnel in Europe, and the largest Thai village outside Thailand, and the park is only the second place in Europe to house orcas.
The owners of Loro Parque have constructed another park in the south of the island called Siam Park, which opened in 2008 and claims to be the biggest water park in Europe.

Birds

There are parrots, black swans, golden pheasants, great curassows, laughing kookaburra, flamingos and pelicans in the park. Here is the list of some parrot species, including parakeets, macaws, cockatoos and amazons living at Loro Parque:

Other animals

In addition to dolphins and penguins, some of the other creatures on display in the park are common chimpanzees, western gorillas, marmosets, California sea lions, Oriental small-clawed otter, jaguars, tigers, iguanas, American alligator, giant Galápagos tortoises, exotic fish, red-bellied piranhas, seahorses, and various sharks.

Orcas

In February 2006, Loro Parque received four young orcas: two males, Keto and Tekoa, and two females, Kohana and Skyla on loan from SeaWorld. SeaWorld sent its own professionals, including trainers, curators and veterinarians, to supplement the staff at Loro Parque to assist with the orcas move. In 2004 and 2005, before the orcas were brought to Loro Parque, eight animal trainers from the park were sent to SeaWorld parks in Texas and Florida for training.
On 13 October 2010, Kohana, an eight-year-old female orca, gave birth to a male calf in the park's "Orca Ocean" exhibit after a four-hour labor. The calf weighed in at about and was two meters long. Kohana rejected her calf, forcing trainers to take the first steps in hand rearing him. Kohana's calf was named Adan, meaning "first man" in Spanish. Adan has been introduced to his dad Keto, his uncle Tekoa, his mom Kohana, his aunt Skyla, his friend Morgan and Victoria, his deceased little sister.
In November 2011, Loro Parque received its sixth orca, Morgan, who was rescued in the Netherlands on 23 June 2010. After spending a year and a half in a small tank in the Netherlands, under much controversy, Morgan was moved to Loro Parque. Claims were made that Morgan was unable to be released due to the lack of skills she would need to survive in the wild and that she was only approximately 2 or 3 at the time of her rescue. In 2012 scientists confirmed that Morgan suffers a hearing loss that could be very severe and even absolute.
On 3 August 2012, Kohana, then ten years old, gave birth to a female calf named Vicky after a two-hour labor. The calf weighed in at and measured long. This calf has also been rejected by her mother, resulting in another hand-reared orca. Vicky died unexpectedly on 16 June 2013. Her cause of death was later revealed to be intestinal problems.
In summer of 2018, SeaWorld relinquished ownership of the orcas giving full ownership to Loro Parque. As of 2020, there 7 orcas in Loro Parque : Keto, Tekoa, Kohana, Skyla, Morgan, Adàn and Ula.

Dolphins

Loro Parque also presents 10 bottlenose dolphins, including 3 caught in the 1980s off Florida and 7 born in captivity : Paco, Ruffles, Pacina, Ulisse, Luna, Clara, Cesar, Achille, Ilse and Robin.

Plants

For visitors interested in plants, there is a large orchid garden with very rare plants.

Shows

Shows in the park include sea lions, dolphins, parrots, nature vision and the orca show. Other attractions include the children's playground "Kinderlandia," Gambian Market, a parrot baby station, a huge parrot museum and many restaurants.
The pre-title sequence of the 2005 movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was filmed at Loro Parque.

Foundation

In 1994 Loro Parque founded the Loro Parque Fundación, an international foundation member of IUCN set up to highlight the need for conservation of nature and the environment. The foundation has carried out 82 conservation projects in 28 countries throughout the world, of which 31 keep being active with approximately 150 persons working daily for the conservation of nature. Since its creation they have spent more than $10,000,000 in such projects.
The foundation is particularly active in conserving the most endangered parrot species in the world, both with captive breeding such as with the critically endangered Spix's macaw, and field projects such as with the equally critically endangered indigo-winged parrot). Between 2017 and 2019 the foundation assisted in releasing fourteen captive-bred macaws of the critically endangered Ara ambiguus ssp. guayaquilensis into the private Ayampe Reserve in Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.

Incidents

In 1996, Tony Silva, Loro Parque's Curator of Birds from 1989 to 1992, was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle rare birds valued at more than US$1.3 million into the United States. Silva began smuggling birds in 1986 and the conspiracy continued while he was curator at Loro Parque.
In October 2007, apprentice trainer Claudia Vollhardt was attacked by Tekoa and hospitalised. After this attack, the trainers ceased to do waterwork for more than six months, and never again with Tekoa.
A few months later, on Christmas Eve of 2009, 29-year-old Alexis Martínez was killed by Keto. After spending two and a half minutes at the bottom of the 12-meter deep main pool, his body was retrieved but could not be revived. He went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to BelleVue Medical Center in Puerto de la Cruz, and was pronounced dead. His funeral was held the following day, and his ashes were spread at Playa El Socorro at sunset. Since then, the trainers do not enter the water with any of the orcas. The park initially characterized the death as an accident. However, the autopsy report stated that Martínez died due to grave injuries caused by an orca attack, including multiple compression fractures, tears to vital organs, and bite marks. During the investigation into the death of Alex Martinez, it came to light that the park had also mischaracterised to the public the 2007 incident with Tekoa, and claimed it was also an accident rather than an attack. It was also revealed that only half of the original trainers are currently employed in Orca Ocean, Loro Parque's facility for the orcas, and none of the subsequent employees hired have been sent to Sea World parks for training. However, they did pass several training courses under the supervision of the other trained members.

Criticism

Loro Parque has been criticised by a number of organizations, mostly for its use of orcas. The Free Morgan Foundation campaigns for the release of Morgan, an orca held at Loro Parque, saying that she has been "bullied and attacked by the other orca on a regular basis" and that Tekoa, another orca held at the park, "is the most bitten orca in all the orca held in captivity around the world".
Whale and Dolphin Conservation also criticizes Loro Parque's handling of Morgan. Specifically, they stated that "the permit under which Morgan was shipped to Loro Parque" states that "she should be used for scientific research" and that in reality, "Morgan makes daily appearances in the shows doing tricks for the paying public".
PETA also criticizes Loro Parque, stating that "experts have identified health problems and psychological distress in the orcas at Loro Parque". These problems include missing teeth, rake marks and mucus dripping from their eyes. They also mention the abnormal behaviour of "floating on the surface of the water" which they say is "unheard of among wild orcas".
On 29 July 2018 Thomas Cook announced that it would stop selling tickets to Loro Parque over "animal welfare concerns".

Awards

In 2018 Loro Parque was recognised for the second time as the best zoo in the world by TripAdvisor by winning the 'Travellers Choice' award.
On 27 September 2000, Loro Parque was awarded the most prestigious prize that the Canary Islands Government gives in the field of tourism, the award "Importante del Turismo 2000". Román Rodríguez, president of the Government of the Canaries at the time, handed this prize over to Kiessling. This prize gives Loro Parque the gold medal for its contribution to make the Canary Islands a quality tourist destination. Kiessling was also awarded the "Galardones Amables del Turismo y Convivencia Ciudadana 1999" by the Centre of Enterprises and Tourism of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, at the same time.