Flight to freedom: it is sacred to the indigenous people, it is irreplaceable for the ecosystem: animal rights activists in Argentina want to save the Andean condor

It is a highly unusual place to save the largest bird of prey in South America from extinction, because it is located in the middle of Buenos Aires, surrounded by rattling buses and thousands of commuters and the stench of the 17 million metropolis.

Flight to freedom: it is sacred to the indigenous people, it is irreplaceable for the ecosystem: animal rights activists in Argentina want to save the Andean condor

It is a highly unusual place to save the largest bird of prey in South America from extinction, because it is located in the middle of Buenos Aires, surrounded by rattling buses and thousands of commuters and the stench of the 17 million metropolis. There, in a former zoo, Luis Jácome, 62, a wiry man with long gray hair, unlocks a derelict animal enclosure on a summer's day at the end of November and announces like a ringmaster: "Ready for a miracle of nature: the Andean condor."

The biologist lifts the cloth over the darkened cage and reveals the female condor Eluney and her young bird with the indigenous name Kawsarichiq - "that finds new life" -, only six weeks old.

Access to all STERN PLUS content and articles from the print magazine

ad-free

Already registered?

NEXT NEWS
Corona: Germany at the crossroads of the pandemic
Corona: Germany at the crossroads of the pandemic
  1. POLITICS