The communities of Mabita and Rus Rus are building a wildlife sanctuary centered on saving the critically endangered great green macaw in La Moskitia, Honduras. This is a huge achievement, as every incursion into the protected area and preparation for making this a sanctuary meets resistance from special interest groups that want to take the land from the Indigenous groups to which it rightfully belongs. La Moskita is a complicated area, and you can read more of this in our previous blogs and from other authors as well.
Building artificial nest boxes for macaws to use as nest sites, such as the scarlet macaw nest in the sanctuary pictured below (photos by the parrot rangers of Mabita and Rus Rus)
The rangers in July constructed an observation tower and station to better protect the area and to add a little comfort to their camping routine
Despite the threats to their lives and very little support from the government, these parrot rangers persist. The government has said they want zero deforestation by 2029 and have allocated funds to reach this goal. In response, the villages with whom we work wrote a letter to the government recently, basically saying, “If you want to protect this land, all you need to do is support us because we are succeeding at protecting hundreds of parrots (and the forest and wildlife with whom they share their lives) with very little resources and at great risk.” The Executive Director of the National Forest Conservation and Dvelopment Institute, Protected Areas, and Wildilfe, responded to this letter saying they will do all they can for Mabita. But when? The Indigenous people have been waiting for decades. The Indigenous people are building a better future for Honduras, but when will the government protection come?
In the movie, “Field of Dreams,” the character Terrance Mann says, “I have no more pain for anything.” There are many days when the conservationists in Honduras, and in so many other places in the world, just want the pain of loss to ease. And so, we build something together, this little patch we call a sanctuary in the broadleaf forest in La Moskita, because as Terrance Mann says, “It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again. People will come.”
May it be so.
We give thanks to the many who make this possible - the people of these communities and the donors who support this project, especially the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that directly supports the development of this santuary
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