A very warm welcome to you all from Parco Natura Viva! I’m really proud to be the host of the second EAZA Animal Welfare Forum.

Many of you may have already visited our country and may have joined us for past conferences we held. This new opportunity is challenging and exciting for my staff and myself, longing,  to meet you all.

You’ll discover an amazing region by Garda Lake, only few kilometers from Verona, here stands Parco Natura Viva Zoological garden,  more than half century of history, guided by passion :  It was the vision of my father in the late ‘60’s to create a park from the perspective of animals, where people are merely guests. Our animals are free roaming or housed on islands, in the Safari area. Also in the fauna Park some of them are housed in islands and others in naturalist exhibits with natural boundaries where possible. As humans we are guests in animal world, and this has led to a unique park with over 40 hectares of naturalistic settings with more than 200 species and 1500 animals.

I’m still looking forward,  getting busy in more in situ projects with a brand new foundation we run, but also  improving our visitors experience, hoping to rise even more involvement by spreading the aim of our EAZA community.

I warmly invite you all to subscribe to the coming conference, promising that it will be an amazing one, with an assessment of the topics from EAZA, always worthy and useful for all of us and a welcome in the smoothest and sweetest Italian style, with our well know specialties of course, but also our gorgeous countryside. We’ll have an amazing tour of our place, we are so proud of, ending the visit with one of our specialties: risotto and wine.

Then, for a sparkling end, a farewell dinner that will surprise and rock you !

Cesare Avesani Zaborra

Monday 18 March: Pre-Forum day: Academy course and Icebreaker
Tuesday 19 March: Forum day 1
Wednesday 20 March: Forum day 2
Thursday 21 March: Forum day 3
Friday 22 March: Optional excursion (destination to be confirmed)

More programme information will follow later

Trailblazing Trainers pre-conference workshop

The Animal Training Working Group and the EAZA Academy will once again be offering a workshop before the conference on 18 March at Parco Natura Viva. This introductory workshop is a great opportunity for participants to get a taste of the techniques and applications of force free animal training. The day will include some lecture sessions and also practical demonstrations and hands-on sessions.

Registration for this event will open soon 

Would you like to attend the AWF24 but would need financial support to make it happen? EAZA is offering five bursaries to support team members from EAZA institutions or organisations, including both Members and Candidates for Membership! Please read the information and then complete the application form! The deadline for applications is 14 November.

The aim of these bursaries is to provide zoo and aquarium professionals, whose attendance at the forum is limited due to finances, the opportunity for continuing professional development, which they will use to support application of the EAZA Standards linked to animal training and welfare within the EAZA community.

From 19-22 March 2024 Parco Natura Viva (Verona, Italy) will host the second EAZA Animal Welfare Forum. 

Early-bird registration will open in October 2023

 For bookings and reservations please send an email to booking-resort@parchotels.it and refer to the promo code 'AWF2024' if you want to make to use of the special delegate rates below.   

Please note that prices are VAT included but city tax is not (Approx. €1,5 pax/day in 4 stars hotels and €1 pax/day in other accommodation types. This tax must be paid by the delegate directly at the hotel.