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N WS FR
ROM THE
E MO
OUNT
T
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ons
5701 Delhi Road
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513‐244‐448
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MMEDIATE
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CONTA
ACT PUBLIC RELATIIONS MANA
AGER:
Jill Eiichhorn
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mentary chrronicles conservation efffort of Cinccinnati Zooo/CREW sciientists as th
hey
Docum
d to Trinidaad
reintrroduce threeatened bird
Zoo, Moount host wo
orld premierre of film fesstival nomin
nee“The Blu
ue and The Gold”
G
on Occt. 20
(CINCIN
NNATI, OH)) –Bernadettte Coutain Pllair remembers seeing fllocks of maggnificent Bluueand-Goldd Macaws fly
ying near heer home in heer native islaand of Triniddad.
“W
When I was a little girl growing
g
up in
i Trinidad, I remember seeing flockks of these
spectacullar birds flyiing from their roosts in the
t forests too their feedinng ground inn the swampss,”
she said. “This amazing spectacle left an indeelible impression in my mind.”
Plair came to the United States
S
at agee 19 when shhe received a full, four-yyear scholarsship
b
at th
he College of Mount St. Joseph. Afteer graduatingg from the Mount,
M
she
to study biology
worked in medical an
nd academicc research for many yearrs and in 19991 joined thee Cincinnati
Zoo&Botanical Gard
den as a research scientisst for the Carrl H. Lindneer, Jr. Familyy Center for
Conservaation and Reesearch of Enndangered Wildlife
W
(CRE
EW). Duringg one of her early trips to
Trinidad,, she learned
d the Blue-annd-Gold Maccaw had beeen extirpatedd from the wild in her naative
country in
i the early 1960s
1
because of nest pooaching for the
t chicks annd habitat altteration.
“IIt made me so
s sad that thhe people off my countryy, my own chhildren and grandchildre
g
en
would neever see the macaws
m
in thhe wild as I did as a chilld,” Plair saiid. “So it beccame my dreeam,
my missiion, to reintrroduce the Blue-and-Gol
B
ld Macaw baack to Triniddad.”
W help fro
With
om the Cincinnati Zoo’s Aviculture and
a Veterinaary departmeents and suppport
from CR
REW, Plairsp
pent a few yeears laying thhe foundatioon work to reeintroduce thhe birds.
Reintroduuction of avian species would
w
requirre releasing captive-bredd or confiscaated birds, orr
translocating wild-caught birds, something researchers were not sure would work. But they were
willing to try.
“When it comes to saving wildlife species, most progress is achieved when a very
passionate individual takes the lead, inspires others and simply refuses to give up, regardless of
the setbacks,”said Dr. Terri Roth, Director of CREW. “For the Blue-and-Gold Macaws of
Trinidad, that individual was Bernadette Plair.”
In 1993, Plairestablished CRESTT (Centre for the Rescue of Endangered Species of
Trinidad and Tobago) and over the next ten years worked with CRESTT members to document
the reintroduction project. The result was the documentary, “The Blue and The Gold,” a 45minute journey to Trinidad’s east coast, which captured the process of reintroducing the macaws.
The film will be shown to the public on Sunday, October 20 at 1 p.m. in the College of Mount St.
Joseph’s College Theatre. The event is free and open to the community. The Cincinnati Zoo will
feature animal encounters including a Blue-and-Gold Macaw for public viewing at 2 p.m. A
reception will take place immediately following. DVDs of the documentary will be available for
purchase after the premiere.
“The film touches on all aspects of the reintroduction, from the research to the release of
the pioneer flock,” said Plair. “Trinidad government support was essential, as was the
collaboration of international partners. We collected a lot of data and learned several lessons
along the way, some of which weren’t always good. The local community bordering the
NarivaSwamp played a key role as ‘citizen scientists’ to help document the macaw nesting sites
and protect the birds in the wild.”
One lesson learned came after a nest with macaw eggs was destroyed when a tree was cut
down. “It was a sad loss,” said Plair, “but we were make important observations and obtain
measurements from the felled tree which helped to determine the nesting preference of the
macaws.”
The conservation effort of the Blue-and-Gold Macaws has paid off. There are now at
least 86 documented macaws once again flying free in the wild in Trinidad.
The documentary has been selected for screening at the 8th Annual Trinidad and Tobago
Film Festivalwhich takes place September 17-October 1. A two-minute trailer of the
documentary is available on the Mount’s website at www.msj.edu as well as the Cincinnati
Zoo’s website at www.cincinnatizoo.org.
The College of Mount St. Joseph is an undergraduate and graduate Catholic college that
provides an interdisciplinary liberal arts and professional curriculum emphasizing values, service
and social responsibility.
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