AmaZOOnico - A Special "Zoo" in the Rainforest
Visit AmaZOOnico - A Wildlife Rescue Center In Ecuador’s Rainforest
Aug 6, 2008
While this “zoo” provides an opportunity to see a variety of wild animals up close, AmaZOOnico is not really a zoo in the traditional sense of what is normally expected of a zoo. AmaZOOnico is a wildlife rescue center and animal rehabilitation station in a rainforest preserve within Ecuador’s jungle.
“Selva Viva”
AmaZOOnico is located a few miles up Rio Napo from Misahuallí, Ecuador on the opposite side of the river from the town of Ahuano in the protected GSR rainforest preserve. The GSR began as a private cooperative conceived in Ahuano and officially organized in Switzerland by a handful of individuals with a common goal to protect the rainforest.
Initially, 39 acres of jungle land were purchased and set aside as a preserve in January 1993 and officially recognized by the government as an animal rescue center in 1994. Eventually, Ecuador recognized the project as “preserve Selva Viva” in November of 1995.
Since AmaZOOnico opened in 1993, it has been receiving wild animals that are in bad condition and needing veterinary care or animals that are confiscated by government authorities as they were being traded on the black market. Most of the animals arrive in bad physical shape as they are either malnourished, full of parasites, or they are wounded, or all of the above.
Wildlfie Rehabilitaton
The center is now sheltering a good number of different jungle animals and nursing them back to health, but some are in danger of extinction. The list of rehabilitated animals includes a variety of birds (macaws, parrots, toucans) and various monkeys, as well as ocelots, caymans, and even boa constrictors.
They are animals that people buy as pets or capture to sell as pets on the black market. While keeping a wild animal as a pet and the trafficking of wildlife is illegal in Ecuador, people still buy them on the black market. Unfortunately, such wild animals lose their appeal as pets or literally wear out their welcome (because they are wild and cannot be housebroken).
Also, babies may be orphaned if their mother is killed by local hunters. The staff estimates that one fourth of the animals unfortunately die on the way to the center or die within the first few days in the center. One half of the animals that come to AmaZOOnico must remain at the center because they require protection or cannot be completely rehabilitated.
The Liana Lodge
The good news is that approximately one fourth of the animals (the adults and healthy animals unaccustomed to human handling) can be successfully released back into the wild. Many of the animals within the confines of the center are constrained by cages or enclosures, but only half the animals are in the center for a lengthy stay and many are not in any cages at all. Some animals such as the lemurs and some of the monkeys roam freely around the area. (One needs to exercise caution with the monkeys as they are determined to snatch people’s bags and backpacks).
What is amazing is that the Ecuadorian government doesn’t provide any funding. The center is self sufficient, but at merely a subsistence level. In 1999, they opened a 24 bed hotel, the Liana Lodge, as one more way of supporting the project along with entrance fees, souvenirs and donations from “Amigos del amaZOOnico,” a group of supporters from Europe. Also, most of the people working on the preserve are volunteers (mostly Europeans). It is worth the time to visit amaZOOnico and it could also turn into a very rewarding journey for all involved.
