On Sunday afternoons I would snuggle with my parents on the couch and wait for zoologist Marlin Perkins to start the
Wild Kingdom
episode
of the week.
Exciting animal footage brought environmental awareness to millions of Americans over the years.
In my case it became a special interest and something that was going to evolve throughout my life: love for nature.
Years later, flying over Lake Victoria on a twin engine, I had to rub my eyes to erase the stab of overwhelming excitement and take pictures.
At 9,000 meters below, a colony of flamingos in mighty flight made up a scene of untamed wildlife.
Contemplating such a vision was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
In 2020 and 5,600 kilometers from there, in the Bioparc Valencia, a flamenco was practicing its first steps.
The experience is different than flying over Lake Victoria, but the excitement of being so close and watching the animals interact, even in captivity, keeps me connected to my passion.
Over the past year, stranded by covid, I have traveled between my memories of animals in their habitat and encounters with them in Spanish parks.
During harsh confinement, birds and bees were louder than traffic, flowers were blooming in forgotten places, and I felt the need to get as close to wildlife as I could.
My journey began in Valencia, the first day Bioparc reopened after three months of closure due to the pandemic.
Fernando González Sitges, director of the Bioparc Foundation, told me: “In the end, we all want to save the planet, but some of us want something more.
That the elephants not only survive, but also that there are many moving freely through their natural habitat, as before ”.
José Maldonado, president of Rain Forest Design and creator of the bioparks, invited me to look through his layered landscape creation of the enclosure, reminiscent of wild environments.
"Nobody owns the animals," he told me, "a zoo is still artificial, but it is the closest thing to seeing wild animals, most of them in danger of extinction."
Baboon Rafiki (on the left) and two females, Abuja and Kjianga, with their young at Bioparc Valencia.
Ana Nance
Frank Prieto is a man with bright eyes and an intimidating size.
He arrives at Bioparc before dawn to distribute the tasks among the other caregivers and hear what others have observed the day before.
It reminded me of a safari, when the guides meet in the morning and in the afternoon to exchange their observations, the key to controlling a natural park.
They get going.
I take a look at the kitchen.
The baskets are filling up.
I'm hungry, a sign that even I would eat what they have prepared.
Cati Gerique is the vet.
One day I visited Baboon
Rafiki
, the alpha male in his community, he was taking antibiotics for his sore genitals.
Cati sat close to him before the crowd began to gather, hoping that her patient would move closer to the glass and allow him to see if she was better.
In the end, after showing his teeth, he turned his back on her long enough for her to do a thorough check.
Back at the office, Cati explained to me how zoos work.
There is the European Endangered Species Program (EEP, for its acronym in English);
the European Breeding Books (ESB), which is the least intensive form of captive breeding;
the Iberian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AIZA), and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA).
They are connected in a huge database.
The number of species that a vet has to work with is overwhelming, so platforms like Species 360 are welcome. “Most of the zoo animals are part of the EEP or ESB, and if not, they are controlled by someone else. draft.
For example, our lemurs, who belong to the people of Madagascar ”.
My hostess reads an e-mail that talks about a female gazelle dama or Mhorr's gazelle, a species in serious danger of extinction, that is going to be transferred to the Madrid zoo.
A common way to regain populations is captive breeding, and inbreeding is a concern.
For this reason, the breeding books and the EEP can be decisive.
In this case, the head of the species has decided to take the female to Madrid.
Zoos are a matter of debate.
Animalists advocate that they become more educational, scientific and conservation-based centers
in situ.
On the other hand, many scientists have awakened their vocation in zoos and have even trained in them.
Ángel Luis Garvia Rodríguez, curator of mammals at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, says: “As long as the sites comply, especially in terms of well-being, it is an opportunity to get to know nature.
Not everyone can go on safari.
And with a documentary you have other sensations.
To conserve, you have to know ”.
Javier Almunia, president of AIZA and director of the Loro Parque Foundation in Tenerife, gives some figures: “In 2019, 14 million people visited zoos in Spain, with an economic impact of 300 million euros, a large part of which was destined for conservation.
Without that it would be very difficult to finance the projects ”.
The world's third largest donor to species conservation is parks.
The eye of a tiger in Cabárceno Park in Cantabria.
Ana Nance
A good example of an enclosure that works for conservation is the Municipal Botanical Zoo of Jerez de la Frontera, mentioned by all the experts.
Miguel Ángel Quevedo is one of his two veterinarians.
"We have the animals that everyone wants to see, and they give us the opportunity to work with local species," he tells me over coffee.
"If the park only had those native species, chances are that very few people would visit us, and they would cut our funds."
As we stroll through the park, it is evident that Quevedo has ambitions to move in that direction.
It focuses on saving Iberian species such as the hermit ibis, the Iberian lynx, the chameleon or the Andalusian bull, extinct in Andalusia and of which only a small population survives in Morocco.
One of the most beautiful images I can remember is, at dawn, a herd of gazelles leaping across the field with sunlight bouncing off the tips of their white tails.
So I am curious about the gazelle transferred to the Madrid zoo.
I paid him a visit.
She was safe and sound, waiting to adjust to her new home before she was taken to her adopted family.
For some species, joining a new group can be difficult and dangerous.
Later I accompanied Eva Martínez, the zoo's veterinarian, on her visit to the red panda
Chamba.
You lack energy, have no appetite, and have lost weight.
You think you may have an infection in a tooth, but the only way to find out is to anesthetize and examine it.
The doctor was right.
The caretaker Frank Prieto and the giraffe Víctor at the Bioparc Valencia.
Ana Nance
The Cabárceno park, in Cantabria, is 750 hectares of an old iron extraction mine.
Santiago Borragán, the vet, guides me and shares his thoughts: “It bothers me that people treat this like an amusement park.
You have to take time and get to know the animals.
Some spend the day sleeping or hiding behind a rock, it is part of their nature ”.
Have a special affection for elephants.
In 30 years, he has seen this large group of African proboscides prosper, the largest in Europe.
The herd has sired 21 young.
He attributes it to the immense space they have to move.
The sun sets behind the metal hills, projecting long rays juxtaposed with the sword-like horns of the Cape oryx.
I drive towards the hippos because I know they come out of the water at dusk.
There is hardly anyone left in the park.
All animals, except for a few species, can come and go as they please.
Looking out over the great Lake Sixth, a flock of egrets moves from a bare-branched tree.
They pose in sync one after the other.
Lower down, something is moving in the water.
I point a 400 millimeter lens and see a happy hippo wobbling across the lake's surface.
With a huff, he shoots out a fountain of tiny drops before clumsily clambering onto the shore.
Nacho Otero, Grefa's rehabilitator, rings an eagle owl in his center in Madrid.
Ana Nance
Cabárceno's cheetahs are the “boys” of the two keepers.
They have been in your care since they arrived from Sweden seven years ago.
The five brothers have blazed trails through the grass, and in 40 minutes they go all the way around, as I saw their “cousins” do in the Serengeti around a rock formation.
Before, in Uganda, I wanted to see gorillas.
After a journey of 800 kilometers to reach the exit on foot the next morning, we were faced with a panorama of smoky clouds rolling at the edge of the high peaks.
It was a heavenly scene.
I made sure to be first in line after the guide.
The terrain was rugged and the humidity intense.
The group had given up hope when I could smell something unfamiliar.
Musky and sweet, the aroma led us towards a clearing on the road.
They had just passed by.
Suddenly, the guide raised his index finger and brought it to his lips, causing us to crouch down and look down.
I cried and shook with pure adrenaline.
My life had just changed.
I was face to face, feeling the breath and heartbeat of something much bigger and more important than me.
Miguel Ángel Quevedo, veterinarian at the Jerez Zoo, with a hermit ibis helmet that is used in raising chickens by hand Ana Nance
Celina Gómez, the keeper of the gorillas in Cabárceno, explains to me what
Duni
does
.
“He takes a twig from a long stick and throws it over his shoulder.
He is preparing to carry the baby on his back ”.
Duni
is the daughter of
Moya
and the alpha male
Nicky,
who arrived 17 years ago from Madrid.
His owner beat him up and abandoned him.
Moya
participated in a reality show with apes at the Prague Zoo.
When I visited her she was upset.
From time to time he covered his ears.
Celina explained to me that there were two workers in the park who spoke too loudly.
That made me wonder how we should behave around them.
Sometimes gorillas in zoos hit the glass when they look at them.
It is a belligerent reaction.
So when we hit the gorillas in Uganda, we stooped down and looked down.
I may never be able to return to Uganda, but I can experience nature in a different way here, because now traveling is practically impossible.
I also realize that the response from captivity is critical.
I remember the words of Eduardo Roldán, professor of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology research at the Museum of Natural Sciences: "Those who work to save species sometimes have to resort to zoos with animals in captivity to start many projects."
I think that I can do the same through my work as a photographer.
The rhinos Cirilo and Nombula, at the Bioparc Valencia.
Ana Nance
In Madrid there is a refuge for wild animals of the NGO Grefa near my house.
The morning I was invited to visit him, there was a caravan of cars in front of the gate.
The queue was to bring fallen animals from the trees or run over.
There is a dark room full of youngsters who feed tiny bites of minced meat to the little birds.
Something flies at my feet: it is a wounded owl that has escaped.
The enclosure has the most impressive operating room I have seen so far, with a large glass window.
You can sit back and watch the vets at work.
Frogs, buzzards, eagles and even snakes have a place to recover.
There is hope that the relationship between animals and humans is powerful and structured enough to reverse the decline of our species.
It is complex, sophisticated, frustrating, beautiful, ugly, and exciting at the same time.
Without humans, there is no future for nature.
At the same time, we are the cause of their loss.
As I climb the stairs of my house, I see my camera case tinted a reddish gold.
I don't even think of cleaning it.
It is Cabárceno's color, and I want to keep it.