German Wildlife Foundation
Hamburg (ots)
At the 69th General Assembly of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) in Paris, the Klepelshagen estate of the German Wildlife Foundation was awarded the Edmond Blanc Prize. It is awarded every two years to outstanding projects for the conservation and sustainable management of wildlife. Initiatives from all over the world apply. “It is an honor for us to receive this international recognition and we are very proud,” said Professor Dr. Klaus Hackländer, board member of the German Wildlife Foundation, at the award ceremony at the weekend.
On the approximately 2,600-hectare Gut Klepelshagen model farm in south-eastern Mecklenburg-Pomerania, the German Wildlife Foundation is showing how agriculture and forestry can be reconciled with wildlife and even species protection. More than 2,900 animal and plant species live and grow around the estate, including very rare ones. Insects such as wild bees, butterflies and dragonflies find perfect living conditions in broken forests, moors and Söllen. Deer, wild boar and red deer know no boundaries like fences. Badgers and foxes have enough space to set up their burrows and go on a productive mouse hunt. In the center of Gut Klepelshagen is the so-called valley of the deer – an area of about 100 hectares that remains free of hunting disturbances all year round and offers sufficient cover and food. “The wild animals move there because they know that they can relax in this spot of land all day long. You often see deer and roe deer, behind them brooks with their piglets, in between strutting cranes and above them the white-tailed eagle circling,” says Christian Vorreyer , head of the Klepelshagen estate.
“People need fascinating encounters with wild animals in order to appreciate them and ultimately protect them,” says Alice Rethwisch, Chairwoman of the German Wildlife Foundation. “Shy game can be seen familiarly in Klepelshagen – unfortunately that’s rare in Germany. With our work we do what was important to me and my husband from the start: counteract alienation from nature, especially among children and young people.”
The Edmond Blanc Prize has been awarded every two years since 1928 for outstanding achievements in the field of wildlife conservation and sustainable use. The foundation and its Feldflur habitat network had already received the award in 2015. Other winners in recent years have included the Sango wildlife sanctuary in Zimbabwe, run by the Hamburg entrepreneur Willy Pabst, and the Cagandala National Park in Angola.
Press contact:
Jenifer Calvi
Press Officer German Wildlife Foundation
Phone 040-970 78 69 – 14
[email protected]
www.DeutscheWildtierStiftung.de
Original content from: German Wildlife Foundation, transmitted by news aktuell
