We are working on the “FreeMe Wildlife Aerodrome” project at FreeMe Wildlife in Howick.

This continuous flight aviary is designed to build fitness, not only in pursuit hunting birds of prey, but all large raptors, to best prepare them for release back into the wild. This project is the first of its kind in Africa.

This facility is available to any birds originating from anywhere across KZN. We cover the whole of KwaZulu-Natal with the work we do in Professional, science-based, wildlife rehabilitation, and often collect compromised birds from far-off regions to rehabilitate and return for release once recovered.

We collaborate with “The Bateleurs” who will fly any compromised birds to our facility in an emergency from anywhere across KZN.

We can now handle large numbers of large birds, which is particularly useful should there be any large tragedies such as vulture poisonings (critically endangered species), which are becoming more common today.
Our team at FreeMe Wildlife is fully trained in this regard and has handled all large birds of prey, and large numbers of bird disasters effectively, such as the rescue and release of 2000 Amur Falcons in 2019 after hailstorms devastated their roost sites.

We have already secured sponsorship of the arches, planking, poles, cement, doors, bolts & nuts, and netting for the roof of aviaries.

What we still need to complete the project is :

80% shade cloth, 160m x 3m, for the outer arena roof, 19mm stone to cover the surface floor of the arena (easy to maintain and keep clean) x 16m3, Umgeni sand for the four inner aviaries (easy to clean and replace) x 8m3.