{"id":292,"date":"2014-09-04T03:44:30","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T06:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/?p=292"},"modified":"2014-10-03T21:11:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T00:11:12","slug":"painamal-the-condor-returns-to-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/archives\/292","title":{"rendered":"Painamal the condor returns to the wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click on any image for a slide show or scroll down to read the commentary.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The big bird spreads her wings<\/p><\/div>\n

Condors are large birds and up close you really appreciate their size. This adult female was being released after three months of rehabilitation and it was a joy to watch as she spread her wings and soared over the valley. Once she found an air current she was in heaven.<\/p>\n

\"Meeting<\/a>

Meeting with guardafauna in San Mart\u00edn to discuss the release \u2014 with Hilda Dalmau Ruiz,
Scarlett Eastman, Martin Eayrs, \u00d1andu Capdevila, Maria Ana Millenaar and Irene
Raimondi.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last\u00a0November (2013)\u00a0I was privileged to be invited to the release of\u00a0Painamal<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>an adult female condor, back into the wild. The bird had been found in very poor condition, intoxicated and dehydrated, and had undergone three months of rehabilitation in the Condor Unit at the Palermo Zoo in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The caravan leaves Jun\u00edn de los Andes for the heights of the Parajes Costa del Malleo<\/p><\/div>\n

The event took place on the Parajes Costa del Malleo (uplands overlooking the Malleo river in Neuqu\u00e9n, Patagonia), inside land set aside for the Mapuche peoples. Representatives of various national, regional and private bodies were present and gave celebratory speeches, most importantly members of the Mapuche community to whom the condor is a sacred animal, messenger and conduit to God.<\/p>\n

\"Argentine<\/a>

Argentine and Mapuche representatives spoke of what the release (and the condor) mean
and meant to them.<\/p><\/div>\n

ABOVE:\u00a0Two cultures – Luis Jacome, from the Condor Conservation Unit in Palermo Zoo in Buenos Aires, and Mar\u00eda Eva Linares\u00a0from the Mapuche community (the word ‘Mapuche’ breaks down to ‘people of the earth’). BELOW: The release, one of many to take place in recent years across the Continent, is recorded for posterity.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An acta was elaborated, and recorded by signatories of the two communities<\/p><\/div>\n

A brief and moving Mapuche ceremony was held before the bird was released – at the request of the lonco<\/em> this was not filmed or photographed. Then it was time to prepare for the release.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The moment of release<\/p><\/div>\n

The moment when Painamal\u00a0took her first steps towards freedom, spread her wings and soared off into the real world were immensely moving for all present. These are big, powerful birds, and it made for a big, powerful moment.<\/p>\n

\"Painamal<\/a>

Painamal spreads her wings \u2026.<\/p><\/div>\n

This collection of pictures documents the release of the condor back into the wild, one of many similar releases performed recently in various parts of South America where the bird had become extremely rare or extinct, and it is encouraging that many of these these released condors are now breeding.<\/p>\n

\"\u2026.<\/a>

\u2026. and makes a big stretch while she contemplates \u2014 freedom \u2026.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m reupping\u00a0this here as I didn’t have a blog last year, and blogs are easier to index than Facebook. You can see a video recording of the event\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\u2026<\/a>

\u2026 and off she flies to rejoin her world<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click on any image for a slide show or scroll down to read the commentary. Condors are large birds and up close you really appreciate their size. This adult female was being released after three months of rehabilitation and it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-for-fb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}