Volunteering in Bolivia with wild animals: our experience

Post by Monica Herrerasproject coordinator
We return to travel to Bolivia and to visit new solidarity projects. Bolivia is a country where you can stay in cities at more than 4000 metres above sea level, travel through the jungle, visit the world's largest salt flat or be fascinated by Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world.

This is where the indigenous essence from Latin America.

Let's tour it by visiting projects related to environment, animals and others of a more socially oriented. 

The first project we visited was a wildlife custody centre. It is a foundation that has been working for 20 years and currently has three centres in the following areas Boliviawith more than 430 animals of different species. These include different species of monkeys, felines and birds. 

In Bolivia there are laws prohibiting illegal trade in wild animals. Even so, it is  a business that is not controlled as much as it should be and which moves a lot of money, so much so that it occupies the fourth position in illegal trades after drugs, arms and human trafficking globally.

The aim of this organisation is to provide animals with the best possible quality of life. Many are rescued from homes, circuses, markets or even animals from zoos or captured directly by government authorities because they were trying to do business with them. 

Some animals have suffered broken bones and continual mistreatment by their owners. The future of each animal depends on a lot of factors such as how long it has been in captivity, how old it is and how much contact it has had with people.

One of the centre's felines

We have learned, for example, that in felines, unfortunately, the probability that they can survive in the wild after release is only 2%.

Many of these animals have suffered important traumas, they have killed their mother when they were babies and this has brought them many consequences not only on a physical but also on a psychological level. When they do not suckle their mother's milk, they have problems with their joints, their immune system, digestive problems, etc. One of the most negative consequences is that they do not learn to hunt with all that this entails and another very negative one is that they lose the ability to hunt.

The volunteers have various tasks related to the animals they are guarding (pumas, jaguars, ocelots, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, capuchins, dozens of different birds, badgers... and even a bear!)

This project lives from the work of the volunteers who are in charge of the animal careThe animals are taken out of their cages for food preparation, cleaning, accompaniment, walks in the forest when it is possible to take them out of their cages. We also carry out construction and improvement work on the facilities.

For us it has been a fantastic experience, do you want it to be for you too?