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Welcome to the Blue Highlands Raptor Rescue & Conservation Centre, International.  We are a specialised avian conservation programme with an over-arching emphasis upon Raptors (Birds of Prey).  Here at the centre, we are dedicated to the following three-part mission:  

Conservation:  Eighteen Percent of raptors worldwide are threatened with absolute extinction and 52% of all raptors are suffering sharp declines in global population.  This Centre works independently and in conjunction with other conservation programmes to research, educate and offer crisis prevention solutions.  Areas of greatest need of addressing include power line threats, windmill farms in the pathway of migratory birds and pesticides consumed by the rodent population.  We work tirelessly to raise awareness, find equitable solutions and forge alliances with policy-makers.

This work encompasses a mentorship and even an apprenticeship programme for special needs children, at risk youth, and sensory-typical children.  We are quite proud of this particular outreach programme because of the powerful, inspirational and even transformational experiences the children receive.  It is our goal that they become strong advocates for conservancy in the future--whatever their chosen life path, and in the meantime, that they find meaning, fulfilment and a sense of their own vital intrinsic importance.  The children help save the birds--and the birds help save the children!  It's a an absolute win-win.  Annual scholarship available.

Crisis Intervention:  YES. WE ARE A 24-HOUR, FULL SERVICE RESCUE FOR ALL BIRDS. From the humble songbird, to the noble eagle, we are always available for emergency medical assessment/care, and emergency intake.  We offer a full-service crisis intake for avian victims of motor accidents, electrocution and other tragic circumstances.  We constantly house between 25-50 birds, some of whom are permanently disabled, others in captive breeding, and others are qualified to be released into the wild.  These birds come from other rescue centres, zoos, emergency personnel, individuals whom find birds on carriageways, domestic rescue situations, RSPCA, SSPCA, etc.  Twenty-four hours per day, we are here to house, provide medical care, feed, rear, comfort and aid these birds in crisis.
 
Endangered Species Restoration Programme:  Without well-managed, genetically diverse captive breeding programmes, many species would have disappeared forever.  For this reason, we are a dedicated, hands-on Conservation Centre--not only protectionist programme.  

OUR MOTIVATION AND REASONING:
We believe our responsibility is to do our best to prevent their complete annihilation.  Extinction is forever, and it must be prevented for those species on the brink.  Raptors are apex predators, therefore act as barometers, letting us know when there are significant man-made imbalances in nature.  With well over half of them profoundly effected, a pacifist view is, in our opinion, not the correct attitude toward what we are now witnessing.  

We are certain that without international alliances, our children and their children will never  see these magnificent birds at all, as they will sadly be relegated to photos in a book of lost species.  It is our duty to work to preserve that which we have (possibly irretrievably) damaged before it is too late--as it already is for so many species.

Protectionism is not Conservation.  Protectionism works off the theory that all nature should be left alone and man should simply let it do what it normally does, essentially.  Like most theories, it sounds good... until you think it through.  When you look at the rescues we receive, 96% of them have been SPECIFICALLY DUE TO MAN'S ENCROACHMENT upon nature.  Birds flying into glass doors unmarked with stickers, Windfarm tragedies in which the turbines (often travelling as fast as 140mph) couldn't be seen by the birds, much less avoided.  We receive abuse cases where humans treated them deplorably. We receive birds victimised by electrocution due to no perch bands to keep them from the dangerous voltage.  We receive birds from countless motor accidents...

NONE of these things are naturally occurring parts of nature.  

THIS IS WHY WE ARE CONSERVATIONISTS.  We believe it is our duty to aggressively step in and try to reverse or at least heal some of the damage we as humans are amorally perpetrating against them.


HOW IMPORTANT ARE RAPTORS TO HUMANS, REALLY?

Well, in terms of direct benefit to humans--their importance cannot be overstated.  The worst calamities to hit humankind have been down to the mosquito and the rodent.  Rats and mice were the direct carriers (of themselves or via the fleas they hosted) of the most devastating diseases which wiped out more than a third of human populations all across Europe.  In six devastating waves, regional and pandemic plagues, decimated humankind. Beginning in 541 B.C.E., under Justinian rule, the plagues were claiming 10,000 human lives per day. People died so fast they couldn't even get them buried; they had to stack the victims outside the towns and cities.  Humans, whom actively persecuted the owl, were overwhelmed by the tragedy left in the wake of their absence.  Infected rat populations exploded as people lived closer and closer together with substandard sanitation, and the perfect storm was created. Then the mice were carried across the globe via merchant ships, and brought their diseases with them.  

A Barn Owl pair can kill up to 6000 mice in a single year per bird--especially during breeding season when they have extra mouths to feed.  Kestrels and peregrines, 2500.  Without them, we ALL might have been decimated already.  Now, our pesticides and rodenticides are destroying them, and the risk for another plague grows daily.  Many of us today, owe them our very lives, and we don't even know it.

We have been working to preserve endangered and threatened species of birds for over 28 years.

Entirely self-funded until 2018 our sanctuary has operated in three countries.  Finally, the vision and the crushing expense of running a full time crisis centre, a community outreach programme and housing dozens of raptors along with other threatened birds on a permanent basis, has at last forced us to reach out.  We cannot do it all on our own.  We need you. They need you.  Donations of time, help, building materials, funds for raptor food, medical funding and yes, even land are all welcome and vitally needed for this incredible cause.  If we give nature half a chance, it can regenerate, heal.  But your help is vital to doing what it takes to provide that opportunity.  We would like to do more--to redouble our efforts. but again, we cannot do it alone.   And yet, that is exactly what we are struggling to do.

To this day, 95% of every expense has been met by the Broscova-Righetti family personally. It is a tireless, often thankless job, which offers no holidays, no sick days and doesn't allow for excuses... That said, it is one we feel privileged to have... especially when it culminates in returning an injured bird to its natural habitat to fulfil its rightful place in nature.  Truly, there is no more inspirational feeling.  

The aid we are requesting is absolutely essential.  We are running nearly at full capacity, with more birds coming every month--sometimes every week.  Even with the successful, healthy wild releases, we are running out of space!  Please consider helping, as birds we cannot take in are relegated to very sad shelters indeed, and some are even euthanised.  DONATION BUTTON BELOW.
 
We cannot take on every aspect of conservation personally, so we also actively support other worthy conservation efforts, organisations and individual researchers in order to further our reach and protective influence.  We are not sportsmen.  We are conservationists.

"SOMETIMES WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SOMETHING,
NOT BECAUSE WE PERSONALLY ARE TO BLAME...
BUT BECAUSE WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN FIX IT."
-Author Unknown



We must face the horrific truth together : that the only reason these birds are on the threatened, endangered, critically endangered or extinct-in-the-wild IUCN lists, is down to our own dispassionate behaviour.  It is down to we humans, behaving inhumanely.  Our blatant disregard for their lives, livelihoods, environments, ecosystems, natural ranges, and uncontaminated food accessibility, has delivered the disastrous condition in which they find themselves today.  

We can help.  So we will.  So we must.  It is not out of a sense of superiority... quite the contrary.  It is as an humble apology to those magnificent creatures which have suffered the damage our species has inflicted upon them.  This is what we can do.  So we choose to do it.  Please do what you can.  If everyone does what they can, change, apparent miracles, in fact, can happen.  Just look at the White-tailed Sea Eagle... recently extinct in the wild in Scotland and UK, now, modestly, slowly, regaining a tenuous foothold.  Only because a few dedicated persons decided to take up their cause.

Our acreage provides sanctuary for rescues and a healthy atmosphere for captive breeding of threatened raptors. It also provides a permanent environment for other endangered avian species.  Again, our concentration primarily centres upon rehabilitation, research, rescue and education/raising public awareness. This is to ensure that these magnificent birds never suffer the fate of so many other species have. Species which are now lost to us forever.  It is an inarguable fact, that quality captive breeding programmes are the answer to securing the future existence of these peerless wonders.
Most Sincerely, 

Blue Highlands Raptor Rescue & Conservation Centre 
The Broscova-Righetti Family 

​WANT TO HELP?  DONATE HERE:  
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The following is a short list of the groups we support financially, or are members of or both.   They represent the cause(s) we believe in. The proof of which is under the Membership page.  WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THESE GROUPS.  PLEASE DO LIKEWISE: 
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THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR BIRDS OF PREY
BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL
HAWK & OWL TRUST
IAF (INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for FALCONRY & Conservation of Birds of Prey)
GAME & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST
RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)
COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE
HAWK CONSERVANCY TRUST
WORLD PHEASANT ASSOCIATION
BRITISH TRUST FOR ORNITHOLOGY

AS WELL AS PROVIDING MANY OTHER DIRECT CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CAUSE THROUGH SERVICES AND DONATIONS

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