News — conservation

Any storm, as horrible as it can be, is sometimes followed by a beautiful rainbow. As tragic as the COVID crisis has been, it has triggered action by the municipality of Belen.

The largest wet market in the Peruvian Amazon “The Belen Market”, has been torn down and demolished ‼

Her mother slaughtered for food, and herself being transported in an ice box to be sold at a market, fate seemed grim for the young manatee calf. But a surprise fish inspection by the environmental police saved her, and brought her into our lives. Thanks to the efforts of caretaker Ingrid Bustos, and thanks to the financial and technical support from the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, the Columbus Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium, and the National University of the Peruvian Amazon (UNAP), Bui is growing healthy and happy, she weighs 55kg as of today. The Rainforest Awareness Rescue and Education Center...

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Peru's largest newspaper recently featured a story about Daniel, the giant river otter. You can read the story here -- link in Spanish. The article casually mentions Bui, the manatee, as well. Both Daniel and Bui were rescued with the help of the Peruvian environmental authority, which entrusted RAREC with caring for and rehabilitating the rescued animals, for future release back into the wild. As the article reports, Daniel has recovered quite nicely. He's one of our most popular residents -- and one of our most demanding, as well. In nature, giant river otters...

A veterinary study authored by RAREC with the cooperation of a team of international veterinarians has been accepted for exposition at the Latin American Manatee Symposium -- SILAMA 2018. This recognition highlights RAREC's commitment to scientific research as an integral part of our conservation goals. By improving protocols for the care of manatees undergoing rehabilitation, we are better able to secure the survival of the species in the wild. We would like to invite you to Lima, Peru, this November 4th, to see our presentation. We hope to see you there!

As we care for Bui and the other manatees under our care, we are reminded of the circumstances which brought them to our center. All the manatees in our Center were rescued from people who had captured them illegally, and all of them had been mistreated. But none more so than Bui. In fact, it's a miracle she survived her ordeal. Her mother was killed for food, and she was locked in a cooler, to be transported for slaughter. A surprise intervention by the Environmental Police saved her life, and we were summoned to pick her up. All of this...