New arrivals and hard goodbyes – September has flown by, surprising us with wild herons, a sad farewell and the beginning of a new dream project.
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Animals
September arrived and so did a capybara, named Basco and Drago a mealy amazon. A week later a baby collared peccary, now named Tammo, two cobalt-winged parakeets called Silo and Nilo and a yellow footed tortoise made their way to Esperanza Verde too. New arrivals remind us of where wild animals truly belong and that these have sadly been taken out of their natural habitat. We’re glad we can give them a second chance here at Esperanza Verde.
Another new arrival was Nera’s (adult female capuchin) 4th baby! We’re workshopping the name with big capuchin-lovers Olivia and Kayla having final say. We can’t wait to watch this tiny thing grow up.
As we welcomed new animals with promising futures, we sadly said goodbye to Kamayo (adult male woolly monkey). His story is one of rapid deterioration, we suspected parasites and brought him into the clinic for intensive treatment, as his condition wasn’t improving with medicine. After consulting our network of veterinarians, we decided an operation was necessary. Sadly, he wasn’t strong enough to pull through and passed away. The necropsy revealed too much fluid around his heart and in his belly cavity – it seems there wasn’t much we could do to save him.
Sencha (juvenile female coati) got a taste for freedom and she seems to love it. She is now fully released, makes an appearance every now and then and seems to be getting up to a lot of sniffing, eating and exploring!
Unlike the volunteers, Wayra and Gaia (juvenile female ocelots) have been chilling, A LOT. The exciting bit is, they’re doing it together! It took 10 months to introduce them safely to each other and it’s amazing to see our hard work paying off.
A wild rufescent tiger heron appeared with a foot injury. We quickly helped it back on its feet and watched it return to the wilderness gracefully (with only one failed take-off attempt).
SUST Animal Orphan Hospital
Keska and Panchin (juvenile female and male woolly monkeys) have made a pit stop in the clinic as they weren’t looking as healthy as we’d like. We’ve been examining their poo, monitoring their eating and giving them extra attention to get them back on track and exploring the jungle.
In moving news, four animals have left the clinic and moved into their very own enclosures! Sipra (juvenile female tamarind) moved to an outside enclosure and the three blue-headed parrots Athena, Zeus and Ares are in Tupak. Apparently, they had a pretty wild housewarming party, but not one of us was invited… whatever. Although they did invite some wild ones of their own kind…
Construction
The newly built sustainable solar-powered water pump is pumping away and saving us all from trips to the river that aren’t swimming-related. A big thank you to the ¨Förderverein Esperanza Verde¨ in Germany, their members and donators for financing this new pump!
Many dreams of ours have come through since Esperanza Verde began, and now, we have a new one – to build the Loki enclosure, (named after one of our earlier residents. A bigger and more enriching space for Yanamayo, Selda (adult male and female capuchin monkeys) and Moyo (adult male woolly monkey) who are currently in La Sapa. The La Sapa enclosure is good, but these monkeys will, sadly, be kept in an enclosure for life and they deserve something great. A place where they can swing as wide as they want, explore smells and hiding places and have the best possible life, despite their previous one as a pet. The location has been picked, the paths are being cleared all that’s missing is the funding to make the actual enclosure (a pretty important part) and we are currently looking for help to finance this dream project of ours. If you or someone you know might be able to help us, please get in touch: info@esperanzaverdeperu.com.
Volunteer life
Volunteering isn’t only about cleaning animal poop, chopping food for 150+ mouths or getting locked in enclosures by clever capuchins, it’s also about making weird, once-in-a-lifetime memories. And this month, the volunteers did well.
The first-ever ‘Super-Secret Ninja Party’ happened (or did it…). With star-throwing competitions, elaborate outfits and other ninja-related shenanigans the winner of the ‘Ultimate Ninja’ title was Death in the Night Ninja aka. Marlon (juvenile homo sapiens and Olivia and Douwe’s son).
Hasta Octubre amigos!
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