Rescue and Rehabilitation

From manatees to river otters to anteaters, Amazonian creatures are illegally captured, taken from their homes, and sentenced to a tragic end. Some will linger for years, in terrible captivity. Others will be slaughtered for food.
Our mission is to stop the poachers, and to give their victims a new lease on life.

 

 

The Rainforest Awareness Rescue and Education Center is a certified wildlife rescue center, operating thirty miles from the city of Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon. We are authorized by the Peruvian government to operate as a wildlife center, and we work in close cooperation with the Peruvian Environmental police, to rescue and rehabilitate animals in danger. From our base of operations in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, we rescue wild animals in danger, to bring them to our facility for treatment, as we prepare them, if it is possible, for their return to the wild.

Our wildlife rescue team stands ready to perform any type of rescue, under any conditions. When we receive notice from the Police about an animal in need of assistance, we dispatch veterinarians, biologists, and assistants as part of our rescue team. We then secure transport of the animal back to our facility, for further examination and medical treatment.

 

Since 2011, Team RAREC has rescued Amazonian manatees, ocelots, tapirs, different species of anteaters and sloths, a giant river otter, and a number of primates such as spider and woolly monkeys. After an animal completes their rehabilitation process (and if they are able to return to the wild) they are released, in order to help their continued subsistence as a species, in the Rainforest.

manatee rescue 1manatee rescue 2

Rescue operation for a manatee calf. The mother had been killed by poachers.

 

A rescue operation can be a quick expedition downtown to pick up an animal being kept in a cage, or a carefully planned expedition to a village deep in the Amazon rainforest. Every single animal we rescue is an important part of the ecosystem, which is why we provide the best possible care to each of our rescued residents.

We never know when the alarm will sound, and Team RAREC is called to the rescue. But we aim to be ready for any situation that we may face in the field. It helps us to count with the support of dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers, who come from all over the world to help us give endangered animals a new chance at life in the wild.


Diego, the spider monkey, the day he left quarantine area because he arrived sick and weak after his rescue.

 

 

Do you want to meet our residents? Click here.