Back to Ecuador: Bioparque Amaru in the Interim

Captain's Log, Day 145: Ten new animals from Macas, Ecuador arrived just today--brought by Ernesto and Fernando of the environmental ministry. So. Life at Amaru hasn't slowed its pace. Two months have gone by, and a few dozen new animals have joined the family--not to mention the arrival of study abroad students from Lewis and Clark College, progress on collaborations with the Philidelphia Zoo and the National Aviary, the hosting of a national wildlife veterinarians' symposium...

Ernesto and the gang have been insanely busy. Could we expect anything less?

In a not-so-unexpected turn of events, I'm back in Ecuador to do a little more with Amaru. This was an important step for me, as I had a week of legal days left in Ecuador when I left last time, and I'm thinking about returning this summer to introduce other Aviary interns to Amaru.

...Entonces...visa applications!

Successful visa application, I might add. 

It's good to be back. 

So, now that I've bought myself more time in Ecuador (in three less-than-six-hour visits to the ministerio de relaciones exteriores offices), I can sit here in Cuenca and bring the rest of you up to speed on what Amaru's been up to in my absence. 

WHICH IS A LOT. As always. I arrived on the night of the 18th, which turned out to be the middle of a national vet conference Ernesto was holding at the zoo. There were 11 vets there from various parts of the country, presenting interesting cases, modified equipment they've invented, and data about trafficked wildlife. 

I learned a lot sitting in on even the last day of the conference. One interesting factoid: Ecuador's importation laws make it so that it's nearly impossible for vets to order tranquilizer guns from other countries. They've found ways around this, though. Andres Ortega, one of the nation's best wildlife vets, invented a device that stores air pressure and can be adapted to servatanas for shooting tranquilizing darts. Ernesto's holidng it in this picture. 

On top of organizing vet conferences, Ernesto is also planning a re-structuring of volunteer organization for Amaru. He met with Edwin, one of the zookeepers, to talk about putting him in a coordinator position. We took ideas from the Aviary's volunteer program.

More of that home-enhanced tranquilizer servatana. 

...and some more. 

As far as the vet clinic goes, construction has met some serious challenges. It was incredible to walk around the two-story building with Ernesto, and see all the things we'd planned, realized--like this awesome surgery teaching window.

The idea is that students can watch surgeries being performed from above, in a teaching classroom. Awesome. 

We're in the process of soliciting material donations from local companies to finish the tiling of the floors, the walls, and the roof...more on this later. 

Onto the animals. 

We're eagerly awaiting the birth of a new bear cub to Jubal and Coya, our Spectacled Bears. Coya is in the process of lining the special den we built her, which is off her exhibit and sequestered away from the public. We're looking for wildlife cameras so we can monitor her progress in the den...

We had a baby CUSUMBOS born to the couple on exhibit less than a month ago! Here's angry mama, hiding baby. 

Also, the arrival of a highly endangered Great Green Macaw from the Guyaquil area has us all excited...to most people, he probably just looks like part of the Eucalyptus he's hiding in...

Old friends, saying hi. 

We also got a new Tapir! A young male rescue. Ernesto and Edwin took a trip with the environmental ministry to the Amazon to pick him up!  

He's getting along quite well with the others, and recovering his strength. Tapirs.
They make funny faces.

The Lewis and Clark College students are working through Amauta, which is purportedly the most community-involved spanish school in Cuenca. Ernesto teaches them biology twice a week, and has them working on research projects. 

They're in groups of four, researching and proposing management plans for four different zoo animals. Part of these projects will to be to put together a budget, create a new enclosure, and carry out a behavioral monitoring plan for each animal.

The other part of the class teaches them about the state of conservation in Ecuador, what the realities of animal trafficking are, and general Ecuadorian ecology. 

I wish Ernesto had been one of my study abroad professors. Sheesh, to have Johel, Alan, Branko, Moncho, Maricela AND Ernesto in Costa Rica talking Tropical Ecology? So ideal. 

Then, there was the trip to Macas Ernesto took yesterday. He and the environmental ministry arrived with ten new animals in tow this afternoon...all rescues from a collector who decided it was more profitable to sell the animals he had than to continue to manage them.

So...now we have two white-lipped peccaries. 

Oops! Tangent. One fast-growing lion cub, too. Amazing how he's just transformed over the past two months. No longer rolling around on the floor with a belly full of milk all the time...

This tigrillo arrived with the bunch, as well. 

Another brocket deer, rescued a week or so back...

And this macaw, seized from an open market an hour away. 

We couldn't take all the animals the zoo had to offer, so the environmental ministry is still looking for other homes for the animals being abandoned. At least they've stopped the selling...

Three monkeys arrived, too...

Edwin and Patricio moving the new arrivals into quarantine. 

Rescued tayra: now our second in quarantine. 

I missed my red-billed parrot friends....

...and saw a bunch of new faces as well. 

So we're in work mode. As always.

I'm going to publish another entry about the National Aviary's support of our Condor Conservation collaboration (and what construction we have in the works) quite soon. Stay tuned.

Hopefully we'll get some local support, too! Looking at you, Graiman. 

Cheers from the Andes, all.