amaZOOnico, Ecuador

The animal rehabilitation center, amaZOOnico, is located in the middle of the protected GSR preserve and is sheltering a number of different animals, some in danger of extinction. The station was built i

n 1993, but its history began a couple of years earlier.

 There are many ways that the animals arrive at amazOOncio:

• 40% from other centers
These places also recieve animals from private people or from the police.
• 20% from private people
Many people buy the animals out of pity or as pets from illegal trades and are at best bringing them directly to us. Many times these animals are already sick or maltreated before they are brought here because people are simply not interested in them anymore.
• 20% from the state
These animals are confiscated trough police-controls in Tena or Baeza.
• 20% from near the Selva Viva area
These animals are brought injured or sometimes brought as gifts (for example, if the young has survived the shooting of its mother, somebody will bring it to the center)

Most of the animals arrive at amaZOOnico in bad condition: malnourished, wounded due to being tied up, and very often full of parasites. Approximately one fourth of the animals die either on their way to the rescue center or in the first days of living here. Another fourth can successfully be set free. (These include only the adults and healthy animals that are not used to human handling.) The remaining half must remain at amaZOOnico – either living free in the area, or in enclosures to protect them from other animals.

 

The reasons for putting animals in enclosures are the following:

• Young animals without a mother have to be protected from other animals
• Sick animals could infect other animals and they need special care
• Aggressive animals that are not able to be released
• Animals who are used to humans and are no longer scared of them are in danger of being killed by local people
• Animals that aren’t able to live or stay in the direct surroundings of amaZOOnico
• Weak animals that are not able to survive on their own
• Animals that have lost their natural instincts