Fruit doves inspire us by their colorfulness and their calm and mostly peaceful nature. As aviary birds, they are long-lived and eager to reproduce, provided that their basic husbandry requirements are met. The populations of these wonderful birds, which are often not recognized as pigeons by laymen because of their exotic colorful plumage, are threatened everywhere in their tropical countries of origin. Habitat destruction directly affects the rainforest habitats of the fruit doves. In captivity, with dedicated private keepers and in zoological gardens, there are considerable populations of various fruit pigeon species. It is important to preserve these populations as important genetic reserves and to develop them responsibly!

To this end, interested breeders, zoos and bird parks joined forces in spring 2007 to work together for the genera Ptilinopus, Ducula, Treron, Alectroenas, Gymnophaps and Phapitreron. They founded the European Fruit Pigeon Project in the Walsrode Bird Park as a project of the Wild Pigeon Interest Group of the Association for Species Conservation, Aviculture and Bird Breeding (AZ). In the meantime, the European Fruit Pigeon Project has become an independent interest group.

Zielsetzung des Projektes ist es zum einen, Haltungs- und Zuchterfahrungen bestmöglich auszutauschen und zu optimieren. Darüber hinaus stellt aber auch die Optimierung des Tieraustauschs zur Verbreiterung und Verbesserung der Zuchten eine wichtige Aufgabe dar. Die Halter werden durch das Projekt stärker miteinander vernetzt und neue Kontakte hergestellt. Gleichzeitig wird der Überblick über die vorhandenen und zu verpaarenden Tiere durch zentrale Datenerfassung größer. Nachzuchten und überzählige Tauben werden zuerst im Projekt den Züchtern angeboten.

Twice a year, the project meetings at a participating zoological institution provide fixed points of contact for technical presentations and animal exchanges. The partnership between scientifically managed zoos and passionate hobby breeders is particularly important to us, as both sides can benefit enormously from each other. Also import efforts are undertaken by the project responsible persons, in order to bring fresh blood into the European breedings.