Ecuador - Flor de la Amazonia Animal Rescue Centre

The Project
Flor de la Amazonia project rescues animals that have been involved in animal trafficking. Wild animals are captured in the jungle and sold illegally as pets. The conditions that the animals are kept in are inappropriate and often cruel. Baby monkeys, for example, are sold for just US$20 and kept tied up or in tiny cages in people's homes. This can become especially problematic when they grow larger and harder to handle. The project aims to rescue these animals and rehabilitate them for release back into the wild. Where release is not a viable option, because an animal is no longer capable of learning to survive in the wild, they are kept in large, stimulating enclosures and cared for appropriately. The project works closely with local communities in order to support them in developing alternatives to hunting wildlife for the illegal pet trade. For example, they have encouraged the growing of fruit, which is bought at a reasonable price, as food for the animals and supported the development of a tourist jungle adventure walk enterprise. It also hosts English Language classes, which it hopes will provide a forum for awareness raising and education about the project and further strengthen links with the local community.



The Animals
Currently the project is home to rescued; woolly, capuchin, and dusky titi monkeys, a margay (large) cat, tyras (playful but ferocious large weasel-like animals), coatis (remember them from the Costa Rica photos?), tortoises, a turtle, a toucan, macaws, parrots, parakeets, a spinx's guan (turkey-ish bird), a kinkajous (a gorgeous but extremely vicious little thing that looks like a gremlin!), collared peccaries (boar-like pigs, they're beautiful but have huge teeth!), an owl (yet to be identified), a pet/guard dog (doberman/jungle mongrel!), three pet cats, various mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and chicks (but they don't really count as they're live food for the margay and owl!), the trees are filled with semi-wild squirrel monkeys and of course there's us; the volunteers. Gloudina is the permanent project coordinator, there are a couple of long-term volunteers, a local family, with whom the centre has close ties and those of us who join for a few weeks at a time. Generally the centre has about twelve volunteers at a time but at the moment there's only a few of us here, we are promised that reinforcements are on the way though!

Location
The centre is located in the beautiful setting of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest at an altitude of 900 metres, with a warm wet climate. It's about an hour and a half into the jungle by bus from Puyo (the nearest town), and about a five minute walk, up hill, from the road. It is made up of wooden buildings; "the house" which has four dorm rooms and two bathrooms, the kitchen with big dining room table (and make-shift table-tennis table), the "meeting room" - seats under a roof, a couple of sheds for fruit and tools and a shelter with hammocks and a fire pit under it. The conditions are pretty basic, although we do have electricity and running water (most of the time), which is about as luxurious as it gets around here! At the moment Ben and I have a room to ourselves, but seeing as our beds are separated by a wall of mosquito net and a big gap, and the walls don't reach the ceiling, so you can hear EVERYTHING, there is absolutely no naughty business!! Spreading out from the centre, among the trees, are the enclosures which have been made for the animals.



The Work
It's hard work and a long day but I love it. Every morning we start work at 8am and clean out and feed all the animals. We're split into teams and work with the same animals every day so that they get to know us and vice versa. On my list are; the big woolly monkey, the dusky titi monkey, a coati, the tortoises, turtle and pigs. Ben's critters are; a capuchin monkey, baby woolly monkeys, another coati, the kinkajous and the tyras. We're not supposed to interact with or name the animals that are due for release but because monkeys are sociable creatures and get depressed without contact we're allowed to talk to and cuddle those that are on their own.

Once we've finished cleaning and feeding the animals it's the dull housework type jobs until lunch time. We get an hour and a quarter off for lunch then after a bit of lounging in the hammocks it's back to work. We help build enclosures and do other maintenance work, although our fixing of a table resulted in us giving it three additional legs! We collect insects to feed to the animals, which is quite a sight to see; Europeans leaping among the undergrowth with nets, wrestling grass-hoppers into pots! We pick up birds that have fallen/climbed off their perches. Also we walk the coatis, it's not ideal putting wild animals on leads but they get sick if they don't eat enough insects and they're much more effective at catching them than we are! The worst job is carrying the sacks of building materials or fruit and other heavy stuff, that has been left for us by the road at the bottom of the hill, up to the centre. The favourite job is getting some of the smaller monkeys out of their enclosures so that they can practice climbing among the bigger trees and have some company and cuddles. Then we check on all the animals and give food to those that need evening feeding before finishing work, usually tired and minging at about 6pm.



Free Time
We take it in turns to cook the evening meal and sit around chatting, listening to music, playing darts or table tennis, chilling by the fire, playing with the dog, stroking the cats etc etc. We work a full day Monday to Friday, a half day on Saturday then have Sundays off. Most people head off to Puyo, Banos or further afield for the weekend, but this week Ben and I stayed behind and enjoyed the peace (but not really quiet with all the squawking birds, buzzing insects, squirrel monkeys jumping up and down on the roof and Ricky the dog begging for attention!).

Life in the jungle...
So life in the jungle... mostly I love it. I really enjoy working with the animals and the setting is stunning. I'm not so keen on the bugs, and there are some HUGE bugs. I'm covered in mozzie bites (we can't use repellent as it's harmful to the animals) and had to take my first ever shower here whilst being dive-bombed by a moth the size of a bat! There are even some bugs which impress me though, like the grass-hoppers the size of my big finger (which I can appreciate from a distance!) and the beetle we saw with two bright glow-in-the-dark spots on it's back. I like not having to worry about what I look like and spending every day in the same dirty t-shirt, jogging bottoms and wellies, but am missing my pink wellies and am not so keen on spending most of my time smelling of a mix of my own sweat and various animals' poo! A couple of the highlights of my day are searching through the undergrowth for tortoises and watching the pigs charge at full pelt at the food I've just put out for them. I love stroking the tiny, fluffy dusky titi monkey, although last time we had her out she wouldn't come out of the tree to me until some squirrel monkeys ganged up on her! Ben is often seen with a baby woolly monkey clinging to his head or trying to teach the parrots to whistle the Linda Mcartney theme tune!!



For more photos click here