ARCAS

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ARCAS -Asociacion de Rescate y Conservacion de Vida Silvestre.

Kevin and I spent a week volunteering at an animal rescue and rehabilitation centre, its name is ARCAS. It is here among the howler monkeys, spider monkeys, wild pigs, deer, jaguar, ocelot, margey, crocodiles, scarlet macaws, various species of parrots and wild birlds, turtles, tarantulas, scorpions, and bats that we celebrated Joelle´s 27th birthday. ARCAS is a non-profit organization founded 19 years ago and is the only of its kind in Guatemala. It is currently host to about 400 animals at various stages of quarentine, and rehabilitation. Most were ceased from black market smugglers. Did you know that illegal animal trade is the third largest black market in the world next to Drugs and Weapons? I am happy to report that in a country of limited resources, the level of care and quality of food these animals receive is EXCELLENT!!

The volunteers have room and board included and live on site in the Casa de Voluntarios. They have capacity for 32 volunteers. While here, Kevin and I were responsible for caring for a deer, a wild pig, parrots, and MONKEYS!! Supprisingly the cleanest of all of these was the pig. We fed them and cleaned their cages 3 times a day. We also helped harvest food, reconstruct parrot enclosures, weighing and handling baby crocodiles, among other tasks in quarentine. I never thought I could get so much satisfaction from cleaning animal poo.

Anyways, it was a blast, and we learned a lot about the challenges of conservation in Guatamala. This is not a centre where you go to cuddle with the animals. The end goal is to rehabilitate and release to the wild, so we want to minimize all interaction with humans, and eventually they do some negative reinforcement so that these animals will stay away from humans when released.

Also find enclosed some pictures of the nearby zoo that we visited.

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Photos

Jaguar
Jag from the nearby zoo, 10 minute walk from ARCAS

Baby Crocs
These guys live under the sink where we did our washing in Quarentine