NatureForm has partnered with the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) – an international non-profit organization, dedicated to conserving wildlife in the Sahara Desert – to help save the threatened North African red-necked ostrich.
With the exception of a few small savannah populations, the North African red-necked ostrich has completely disappeared from its once vast Sahelo-Saharan range. NatureForm is supporting SCF’s efforts to recover this distinctive, but less known, sub-species of ostrich through the North African Ostrich Recovery Project.
SCF has recently completed the commissioning of Niger’s first solar-powered field hatchery, which is custom engineered to restore and repopulate the ostrich in the wild.
“The survival of the North African red-necked ostrich depends upon this project,” explains John Newby, SCF Fund Director. “Nigeriens who have been caring for the last five breeding pairs of these ostriches reached out to us about how we could help."
Four shipping containers have been converted into a sustainable camp and architects and engineers for the North African Ostrich Recovery Project created a hatchery – which includes NatureForm incubators, an incubation lab, office and solar power plant.
The hatchery was fabricated in San Francisco and shipped to Africa for reassembly. Now fully operational, it is equipped to run sustainably – with only minimal water supply from a well one mile away. The first birds are expected to start laying at the end of April. John Newby said: “Through this partnership with NatureForm, we hope to safeguard the future of these unique, flightless birds.”
Steve Warren, CEO of NatureForm said: “We are delighted to support this important conservation project and play a part in helping to ensure the survival of this perilously threatened species.”
