Awards

In 1999 Jemima was honoured with an MBE for services to bird conservation. She was delighted with the award and said that collecting it from Buckingham Palace (without a bird) was about the most nerve-racking moment of her life!

She was also invited in the same year to Chair the first Zoos Forum, which was a government quango put together to look at zoos and zoo legislation, she remained Chair for two terms, until she left for the USA in 2004.

At 35 years old Mozart gets a well deserved award for his services to owl education

Mozart the Eurasian Eagle Owl, winner of the 2008 Lady Gray'l Award, was captive bred in Newent in Gloucestershire in England and raised by Jemima Parry-Jones. Since he considers himself to be a human, he thrived on attention during his childhood at the Royal Academy of Music with Jemima (where he acquired his name), and later from his adoring public at the National Birds of Prey Centre. He loved people so much that he even allowed numerous blind people to experience what an owl was by patiently allowing their hands to feel his body. Most owls would not tolerate such touching and indeed he does not like it normally but seems to understand when it is blind people who need to see by touch.

Mozart was the forerunner of trained owls in the United Kingdom and other countries, helping Jemima to develop and refine owl training and care techniques she later published in two books and a video on owls. These experiences also helped Jemima to write the section on care of owls for the Secretary of State's Guidelines for Zoos.

Mozart and Jemima went to South Carolina with plans to join forces with the South Carolina Center for Birds of Prey in 2004, but returned to England in 2007 to create the new International Centre for Birds of Prey instead. While in the US, Mozart and Jemima visited the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Mozart "happily provided demonstrations of owl courtship," says Dr. Melissa Hughes. "My students were always quite pleased when he favored them with an offer of dead rat." During his life so far, he has likely helped educate over a million people about owls through video, television, programs, and just working on display for his treasured public.

For her work with Mozart and other owls educating hundreds of thousands of people about owls, expertise in breeding owls, training owls and their care, owl rehabilitation, and safeguarding the welfare of captive owls through crafting guidelines and conducting inspections, Jemima Parry-Jones herself is also receiving a new Special Achievement Award from the World Owl Hall of Fame.