El Socorro Centre to release largest group of animals into the wild | News Extra

The El Socorro Centre for Wildlife Conservation (ECWC) will release its largest group of animals into the wild.

It will take place on Thursday at the Asa Wright Nature Centre at 9 a.m.

ECWC founder Ricardo Meade said for the past ten years, the centre has established the new year tradition.

“The ECWC has a new year’s tradition of releasing a significant animal back into the wild on new year’s day. We’ve held this tradition now going on for possibly ten years,” he said.

Last year, he said a juvenile green sea turtle, rehabilitated by the organisation, was released into the wild.

For 2026, he said the ECWC had planned its largest release.

“We have a spectacled owl, a black-eared opossum, a rainbow boa constrictor and about three orange-winged amazon parrots to release back into the wild, making it our largest new year’s release thus far,” he continued.

This historic occasion, he said, coincided with the centre’s twentieth anniversary celebration in November 2026.

“It’s how we like to start off the new year to set the tone to hopefully release lots of animals back into the wild this year,” he added.