The NGO PRO-ALAS (“PRO-WINGS”) is a much needed outgrowth of a successful program that was initiated in 2011 by the Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve located in Copán Ruinas, Honduras, and ran in cooperation with the World Parrot Trust and additional local partners that included the Honduran Institute of History and Anthropology, the Institute of Forest Conservation (ICF), and the local NGO Asociación Copán (“Copán Association”).

The program initially focused on the release of Scarlet Macaws, the Honduran national bird and a sacred icon of the ancient Maya, into the town’s famous archaeological park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Nowadays, seven years and six releases later, the impact of the macaws on visiting Hondurans and international tourists alike has been startling and has truly transformed the experience of visiting the site. As 2019 began, the Copan Valley was home to more than 60 free-flying Scarlet Macaws which have been producing chicks since the first release in 2011 (twelve chicks in tree-mounted nest boxes just in the past year).

It is obvious that a sustainable release and reproduction model has been developed from this effort and PRO-ALAS is now needed to expand this potential across Honduras, and perhaps in the future to neighboring Central American countries.