Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation

animal rescue & rehabilitation

PROJECT 2

Helping the wildlife victims of human activities get back on

their feet and back into the forest

This initiative is focused on improving the lives of wild animals that have been saved from animal traffickers, have been injured by vehicles or domestic pets, or considered to be in imminent danger due to their location, and setting them on the path to recovery and eventual reintroduction back into the wild

With the opening of the Interoceanic Highway that bisects the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru, back in 2010, and the development since of a network of secondary roads that lead off this highway deep into the rainforest, one of the results has been a huge rise in the number of wild animals being trafficked out of the region to fuel the national and international trade in exotic pets in addition to a big rise in collisions between animals and cars. Greater enforcement of trafficking by the authorities, including the confiscation of wild animals from people's homes in Puerto Maldonado, many deemed to have been mistreated, has generated an increase in the number of animals needing a temporary home and eventual rehabilitation.

We have teamed up with two other non-profits (Serpentario Tropifauna and Asociacion para la Conservacion de la Fauna Silvestre - ACOFAS) in order to help deal with the growing influx of confiscated wild animals needing immediate help. Together, our objectives are to improve the facilities and processes at animal rescue centers in Puerto Maldonado to allow safe and humane care to be given to wild animals brought to these centers; to rehabilitate the animals; to reintroduce those animals that are fit enough to be sent back into the wild (and to find permanent homes for those that cannot); and to educate local people regarding the plight of these wild animals and to discourage people from purchasing wild animals.

Fact Sheet

Project Start:

Principal Investigator:

Focal Taxonomic Groups:

1997

Chris Kirkby PhD

Amphibians

80 species

Birds

500 species

Mammals

50 species

Study Sites:

Insects

90 species

Reptiles

50 species

Plants

80 species

60 (see map below)

With the opening of the Interoceanic Highway that bisects the Madre de Dios region in the Peruvian Amazon back in 2010, and the development since then of a network of secondary roads that penetrate deep into the rainforest, one of the results has been a huge rise in the number of wild animals being trafficked out of the region to fuel the national and international trade in exotic pets in addition to a big rise in collisions between wild animals and cars. Greater enforcement of trafficking by the authorities, including the confiscation of wild animals from people's homes in Puerto Maldonado, many deemed to have been mistreated, has generated an increase in the number of animals needing a temporary home and eventual rehabilitation.

Aims and Objectives

To assist rescue centre staff with the day-to-day activities of looking after the wild animals in their care, including preparing food, feeding, cleaning out enclosures, maintaining and upgrading existing enclosures, building new enclosures, weighing and measuring certain species, pit-tagging certain species, preparing signage, and releasing healthy animals back into the forest at appropriate sites;

To assist with behavioural studies of some species, particularly those individuals destined for release and even some individuals whose physical or mental condition may require them to be cared for for many years at the centre and who may need special attention;

To map the location of rescue points for animals arriving at the centre, to better determine if there are specific geographical areas that are of concern, such as areas of urban and agricultural expansion in the Madre de Dios region;

To assist with analysing raw data pertaining to rescued animals, such as changes in size and weight, diet preferences, behaviour, geographical location of rescues, and so forth, with the aim of providing management with information useful to improving the lives of the animals.