Why get a puppy when you can adopt a pink flamingo? This is what an association is proposing, which will not only enable you to protect this bird, but also to learn more about it and follow it on a daily basis!
Why adopt a pink flamingo in the Camargue?
Adopt a pink flamingo - that's the initiative proposed by the Tour du Valat. Since 1954, the association has been working to conserve wetlands and their inhabitants. In general, wetlands - whether marshes, rivers, peat bogs or coral reefs- are particularly vulnerable to global warming, agricultural spills and marine pollution.
in France, we have a particularly fascinating and rich wetland: the Camargue! The largest wetland in France, it is of international importance, as it is listed in the Ramsar Convention, which is why the association decided to set up here.
It is home to the majority of France's pink flamingo population. As early as 1977, the Tour du Valat set up huge flamingo ringing campaigns, to better recognize, study and protect them.
It was then that the Tour du Valat realized that the Camargue flamingo population was in decline, due to the damming of the Rhône delta in 1869. This human intervention had so altered the landscape of the Rhone delta that there were no longer any islets to support flamingo colonies. So the association worked to create artificial islets, which the flamingo population accepted in just three years.
Although it has recovered, the Camargue flamingo colony remains fragile. Adopting a pink flamingo is therefore not only a way of getting to know this colorful species, but also of participating in its conservation. More broadly, the funds donated will be used by the association not only to safeguard the species, but its entire habitat, the Camargue and wetlands in general.
Sponsorship helps the association to monitor populations, continue its ringing campaigns, purchase equipment and take action to protect natural wetlands.
More thanan act of commitment, adopting a pink flamingo is also a particularly fun way to get closer to the species. You'll receive a biography of your flamingo godchild, as well as real-time tracking of its movements!
How do I adopt a pink flamingo in the Camargue?
To adopt a pink flamingo, simply visit monflamant.com, and subscribe to one of three sponsorship models:
- Adopt a mascot (€25/year): this involves co-sponsoring one of the association's two mascots, Pat, the male, or Popit, the female. In other words, two flamingos with several sponsors.
- Adopt a family (€50/year): this offer enables you to adopt a pink flamingo according to your personality, the idea being to adopt one that resembles you, from among four large families of flamingos: the Adventurers, who travel great distances, the Camarguais, who on the contrary stay warm in the Camargue, the expatriates who have settled far from their place of birth, and finally the Lovers, who coo as a couple.
- Adopt an ideal godchild (€100/year): this offer lets you choose exactly the person you'd like to adopt, according to gender and age, and give him or her a first name!
In any case, no matter which offer you choose, you'll be able to keep track of your flamingo in real time, as you'll receive an e-mail alert every time he or she is spotted. Sponsorship also includes a certificate of sponsorship, a subscription to the quarterly online magazine "La Gazette des flamants roses", and a dematerialized species sheet.
And don't forget that sponsorship is tax-deductible! The €25 to adopt a mascot, for example, becomes €8.50 after tax deduction.
