It hosted the Annual Conference of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), was distinguished as the best nature park in Spain, increased animal welfare, supported in situ conservation through the BIOPARC Foundation and, above all, has been dissemination and awareness platform in society with multiple activities.

In the final stretch of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), 2019 can be considered to have been a benchmark year in conservation for BIOPARC Valencia.

BIOPARC Valencia was the host of the Annual Conference of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), in which 900 experts in biodiversity conservation shared the latest discoveries and contributions, as well as future challenges in the field of nature preservation at a global level.

He has also been awarded the award for best Nature Park in Spain at the PAC Awards. And he has managed to be the first park to completely eliminate single-use plastics from kitchenware and utensils in its restaurants, ahead of the 2021 European directive.

During this year BIOPARC Valencia has established itself as a reference and a platform for education, dissemination and protection of nature developing actions such as:

• Celebration of special days among which we can highlight: environment, biodiversity, migratory birds, Bat Night, giraffe, wetlands, vulture, elephant, and many more commemorations to raise awareness about the urgency of acting from our daily and local actions to preserve the global.
• Promotions “with a cause” such as BIOdías, where all visitors participated with 1 euro in the conservation of bats.
• Leisure-training actions such as Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays; thousands of school visits or the Poblado de las Jaimas.
• Participation in more than 40 international conservation programs ex situ, where arrivals, transfers and births have occurred, among which we highlight: two duikers, a species that can only be seen in Spain in BIOPARC; four Mhorr gazelles, extinct species in its habitat; or severely endangered primates such as two drills, an mangabey with a white crown and gorilla felix, which was named in honor of the well-known Spanish conservationist Rodríguez de la Fuente. and in situ conservation through BIOPARC Foundation.

• Medids for improve animal welfare and sustainability of the park such as interventions in the outdoor and indoor gorilla enclosures or the installation of a biomass boiler to heat the facilities in a self-sufficient manner.
• Solidarity events “with a cause” such as the Race in Herd, the Can-rrera and the parades to adopt abandoned dogs that involve society in the commitment to the environment and animal welfare.

Like the cycle of life, it has had heartfelt losses and also births, arrivals and transfers of animals within the more than 40 ex situ conservation programs in which the park participates.

And we cannot forget the most painful moments for the BIOPARC team, when they have faced the loss of such beloved animals as Che, the giraffe born at the Viveros zoo in 1995 and a reference for thousands of Valencians for 24 years, the twins of chimpanzees born this same year or the lion Teimoso.