“The Belen Market” has been torn down and demolished!

Posted by Kathya Ribbeck on May 27, 2020

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 ‼

Today they went in with bulldozers, front loaders and finished what they should have done years ago. The municipality has always wanted to do something about the market and today, due to the storm we are weathering here in Iquitos, they had reason to destroy a cesspool of bacteria, disease, and in turn eliminating the exploitation of animals that many in our business of conservation prayed would be stopped.

The Market has been well known for illegal wildlife trade in Iquitos and a place where many of our rescues were confiscated.

We tried endless tactics and efforts with the market over the years. Sustainable incentives, environmental campaigns, cleaning up the market itself, and even preaching to the locals, but it all seemed ill-fated. Today the animals, team RAREC and all conservationists claim victory in the battle against the Belen Market! We can reassure ourselves that goodness can win in the end. Please accept our apologies for these images, but we wanted to show you what we've been up against for years in the past, but what is no longer in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.

👍THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL👍❗❗❗❗

On a side note;
Consider making your preregistration for our volunteer programs to keep this project alive and going. Let's finish what we started together. We want to continue to work with the children of Iquitos (to help them become the future protectors of the Amazon).

✴✴Please share the great news! We could all use some good news right now!!✴✴

✴✴ consider making a donation ✴✴➡️➡️ Donations.for.rarec@gmail.com ⬅️⬅️