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Fundación Loros
Two Blue-headed parrots (Pionus menstruus) in rehabilitation at Fundación Loros

How to surrender a parrot or macaw

Step by step to give a bird its second chance — legally, and with respect for the animal.

Where to surrender your parrot or macaw

In Colombia, wildlife belongs to the State. Only environmental authorities can receive a rescued animal and decide its destination. Fundación Loros doesn't receive parrots directly from private owners, nor can we pick them up at home — the first step is always your local environmental authority.

If you live in Cartagena

Contact the EPA Cartagena CAV — Wildlife Care and Assessment Center of the Public Environmental Establishment. They receive the animal, perform a medical assessment, and decide its destination based on its state and current regulations.

Web: cav.epacartagena.gov.co
WhatsApp: +57 300 680 6370

If you live in other Bolívar municipalities

Turbaco, Santa Rosa de Lima, Villanueva, Arenal and the rest. Contact CARDIQUE, the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Canal del Dique — the environmental authority for your territory.

If you live elsewhere in Colombia

Contact the Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR) of your department. Every region has one.

Important: Fundación Loros works with several corporations, but we cannot guarantee your animal will end up at our reserve. The final decision is always made by the environmental authority, based on each center's capacity and specialty.

Before you surrender, understand what we are

We are not a zoo. We are a doorway back to the forest.

Fundación Loros exists to correct harm, not to perpetuate it under another guise.

Our model is austere and naturalistic. We don't build cages to display pretty parrots to visitors; we build flight aviaries so individuals recover the flight, musculature, social life and threat response they need to survive in freedom. We apply a principle of minimal handling: wild parrots aren't touched more than strictly necessary, aren't humanized, don't become anyone's pet.

Destination hierarchy

What happens to each parrot that arrives?

The path for each parrot that enters the foundation is decided in this order, per our bylaws. We always prioritize animals with real chances of being reintegrated to the forest.

  1. Release to the forest

    Soft-release methods after rehabilitation. The ultimate goal — and the preferred outcome whenever viable.

  2. Semi-freedom

    Cage-free, integrated into the reserve's landscape, in contact with wild flocks but with human support that's already part of their internal map.

  3. Temporary rehab custody

    Active preparation for freedom: flight aviary, flock integration, physical and behavioral recovery. Months, sometimes years.

  4. Long-term care

    Only when release isn't viable due to the individual's own condition, and provided they serve an educational, social or reference-flock role.

And the parrots that can no longer return to the forest?

Some parrots arrive so damaged — physically, emotionally or by years of humanization — that releasing them would mean condemning them. We care for those as long as they serve a function in our model: they're part of reference flocks for parrots in rehabilitation, they take part in non-invasive research, they live in semi-freedom within the reserve, or they become silent teachers to our visitors — telling, with their very presence, the story of trafficking, mistreatment or neglect that could have been avoided.

But we are not a parrot retirement home. When an animal cannot have any form of freedom — not even semi-freedom — and would require permanent confinement with intensive clinical care, an authorized zoo can be a better option. Often it's the best option for the animal itself: being with others of its species, in a safe environment, with proper facilities and veterinary attention, can be a more dignified life than what we could offer.

Our bylaws say it clearly: when an individual isn't releasable, we first evaluate whether another authorized center can offer conditions equal to or better than ours. We don't accumulate animals; we care for individuals that have a path.

Indefinite captivity without ecological, educational or scientific function is not an acceptable outcome.
— Fundación Loros Bylaws, Article 7

Why we can't receive parrots directly from private owners

It's a legal matter

In Colombia, wild fauna belongs to the State. Only environmental authorities can decide the fate of a rescued animal. Fundación Loros doesn't have the legal authority to authorize transfers — we can only receive animals remitted by environmental corporations, with CARDIQUE authorization.

Environmental corporations have priority

Many corporations are saturated: they have more parrots than they can manage. Those are the animals that need us most, and they take the first place in our reception capacity.

Our capacity is limited

Each parrot requires specialized care, adequate space and time. Many individuals aren't released in weeks but in months or years, and meanwhile they need aviaries, food, veterinary care, integration with flocks. Each spot commits resources for a long time — that's why we only receive animals for which we can do serious work.

Our area of operation

We work in the Bolívar department, with presence in:

Cartagena · Villanueva · Santa Rosa de Lima · Santa Catalina · Clemencia · Zipacoa · Bayunca · Arroyo Grande · San Estanislao · Turbaco · Arjona · Cañaveral.

We want to grow and reach more territories, but for now we must concentrate where we can have real impact.

Frequently asked questions

Will my parrot end up at Fundación Loros if I surrender it to the EPA CAV or CARDIQUE?+
Not necessarily. Environmental authorities receive the wildlife and distribute it among various foundations, reserves, transit homes, wildlife centers or, in some cases, authorized zoos. The assignment depends on each center's capacity, the species, the animal's condition and the priorities of the moment. You can request a report on your animal's destination and explicitly ask for it to be transferred to Fundación Loros — but it's not something we can guarantee. The final decision is made by the environmental authority.
Do you receive parrots that are humanized?+
Yes. We can receive them at Fundación Loros. We believe in a reintegration model that adapts to each animal, not the other way around. Some parrots will become fully wild again and join forest flocks. Others will live in semi-freedom, cage-free but closer to the human spaces that are already part of their history. We don't condemn a parrot to the cage because it was humanized. Each individual has its own path, and that path is discovered with time, patience and observation.
And if my parrot will never return to freedom, not even semi-freedom?+
In that case, an authorized zoo can be a better option than Fundación Loros. Although counterintuitive, not every wildlife foundation is the best destination for every animal. If your parrot will never fly again, is completely humanized to the point that not even semi-freedom is viable, or needs lifelong intensive clinical care, being with others of its species in a well-managed zoo with adequate facilities and permanent veterinary attention can give it a more dignified life than we could offer here. What matters is that the environmental authority has all the animal's information — its history, its health, its behavior — to make the best decision. Don't cling to the idea of "go to a foundation": cling to the idea of "have the best possible life".
How long does it take a parrot to be rehabilitated and released?+
It can vary from months to years. It depends on many factors: • The parrot's age and how long it has been in captivity. • Its history — if it was taken from the nest, if it lived alone, if it was mistreated, if it knows others of its species. • The location and conditions where it's released. • Whether it finds a mate or a flock to integrate with. Rehabilitation isn't a fixed protocol: it's a living process that respects the animal's timing.
Can I visit the parrot I surrendered?+
It's a question we understand. After living with an animal, wanting to know how it is is the most human thing in the world. **The best way: bringing food at feeding time.** Fundación Loros has a program where you can donate food and bring it in person at the time the birds in our care are fed. It's the most concrete way to stay present: your contribution lands directly in the beak of the parrots we're rehabilitating. Learn about the Donate Food program at /en/how-to-help/donate-food. If you let us know ahead of time, we'll try to identify your parrot when you visit the reserve. But we can't promise we'll find it: once integrated into a group or in semi-freedom, it stops being an easily identifiable individual and becomes one more in a flock. That, although it sounds hard, is good news — it means the process works. It's important to understand that from the moment you surrendered your parrot to the environmental authority, the animal is property of the State — not yours, and not even of Fundación Loros, which only has its technical custody. The parrot cannot be returned, to anyone, except by express decision of the environmental authority.
My neighbor has a parrot in a cage. Can you go rescue it?+
Fundación Loros is not an environmental police authority, nor do we run seizure operations. What we do is **rehabilitation of wildlife and its reintegration into the tropical dry forest**, once animals reach us through the official channel of the environmental authority. If you know of a case of illegal wildlife possession, the complaint goes to the environmental authority for your area — not to us: • In Cartagena: **EPA CAV** — WhatsApp +57 300 680 6370 • In other Bolívar municipalities: **CARDIQUE** • Elsewhere in Colombia: the **Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR)** of your department. They have the legal authority to inspect, require the surrender of the animal and, if warranted, initiate the sanctioning process. Once seized, they decide which rehabilitation center it goes to. We do permanent work in **awareness, sensitization and community education** — because most captivity cases aren't solved with policing but with cultural change. But the line is clear: rehabilitation for return to the forest is ours; the authority to seize is theirs.

Before you surrender your parrot

To give your parrot the best chance of recovery, we recommend:

  • Feed it a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in the days before surrender — mango, papaya, banana, guava, carrot, squash. Avoid seed-only diets or processed human food.
  • Clean fresh water available at all times.
  • Transport it in a ventilated, dark crate with a non-slip floor — a towel works. Darkness calms it; light stresses it.
  • If you know its history — how long in captivity, what it eats, illnesses, rescue origin — write it down and hand it over with the animal. That information is gold for whoever receives it.

Thank you for choosing the right path

We understand that deciding to surrender an animal you've lived with isn't easy. It's an act of generosity and love for the species. Every parrot that enters the legal wildlife system is a parrot that can begin a path home — to its forest, its flock, its sky. If you have questions about the process, write us on WhatsApp and we'll guide you on which environmental authority corresponds to your area.

Message on WhatsAppLearn about the Donate Food program