The great hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife bore witness yesterday afternoon, Wednesday September 26, to the presentation of the prestigious Gorilla Award 2017 to Rosemary Low, a passionate defender of parrots who has dedicated her life to these birds through breeding and conservation. This year celebrates the fifteenth edition of this award, which emphasises environmental responsibility, addressing strategies and actions to conserve biodiversity and promote the sustainable use of resources.
The event, which was held within the framework of the IX International Parrot Congress organised every four years by the Loro Parque Foundation, welcomed more than a thousand guests. Numerous authorities, civil, military, consular and private sector representatives accompanied the hundreds of congress attendees, of more than 40 nationalities, who are visiting the island this week attracted by this world famous convention.
Wolfgang Kiessling, President of the Loro Parque Company, wanted to highlight the work of Rosemary Low, who for years was a Bird Curator at the Parque, and who has dedicated her entire life to the breeding and conservation of parrot species. Her principles and values, Kiessling emphasised, are the same that move Loro Parque, prioritising the protection of nature at a time when the human population is growing exponentially and, consequently, the resources and habitats of wild animals become more limited and are in worse conditions.
For her part, Rosemary Low highlighted Loro Parque Foundation’s conservation achievements in a speech that recalled her first visit, in 1984, and her more than 30 years of relationship with a Parque to which she has a special affection. “It has been a privilege to be involved with Loro Parque and the Foundation for so long,” she said.
About Rosemary Low:
Rosemary Low is a prolific writer, and her numerous articles and books have been translated into many languages. She was the first to publish a book on parrot conservation. This book, called Endangered Parrots, was first published in 1984, and a revised version was published in 1994. She is currently working on a more complete version that will bear the name Parrot Conservation: A view across four Decades.
Rosemary has visited 29 countries, many in South America, to observe parrots in the wild. There she has been involved in conservation projects, about which she has written extensively and for which she has been invited to numerous conferences in Europe, Australia, the USA and Brazil. She is a tireless fighter for parrot conservation.
Since she raised money for the Imperial Amazon during the first International Parrot Congress in 1986, she has been involved in numerous parrot conservation projects for which she raises funds.
She has owned parrots since 1958 and tends to say “We are privileged to be able to enjoy these sensitive, impressive, beautiful and intelligent creatures”. We can share these feelings of hers in her most recent book Understanding Parrots – Cues from Nature.
Her long experience and profound knowledge have made her an icon in the field of parrot breeding.
