After nearly 55 years of sharing their birds with the public, the International Centre for Birds of Prey’s location in Newent, Gloucestershire is to close to the public, permanently as of February 16 2022. The charity will continue at a new location as a private charitable facility, working to conserve birds of prey around the world.
The International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP) was founded in May 1967 as the Falconry Centre by Phillip Glasier and family. It is the oldest dedicated bird of prey centres in the world and has worked, under the direction of Glasier’s daughter Jemima Parry-Jones, to conserve birds of prey both at home and internationally. Despite cost saving measures and widely supported fundraising efforts from the charity, the impacts of COVID-19 have been too great. Thanks to the furlough scheme and the dedication of the staff and volunteers, the charity zoo survived the worst of the pandemic and therefore, were ineligible to receive support funds from the Government’s extensively debated Zoo Support Fund and Zoo Animal Fund. This, coupled with the ever-increasing costs of running a zoo, our location and aging infrastructure have forced the difficult decision to close to the public in order to allow the charity to continue its work.
However, ICBP is viewing this step as a new phase in its long history and is excited by the prospect of contributing to conservation in different ways. Its new facility will be focussed on conservation breeding, building on the knowledge and expertise already fostered from involvement with projects such as Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction. It will also be using the opportunity to develop its ability to deliver new and innovative, specialist courses and lectures to support the wider conservation community.
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Posted On: 21/02/2022