May 2021 Newsletter

May seems to bring us a bit closer to getting back to ‘normal’. After a long period of having only a few volunteers, few new animals arriving and no ongoing construction, finally things seem to have turned around a bit. We hope this is something most of the world is experiencing. Now with more people to help us, we were able to accept more animals in need which had recently been confiscated by the Ministry of Fauna and Flora in Pucallpa.

Animals

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Manok, the newest male member of the woolly monkey family, is doing well. He shows a lot of interest in all the stimuli provided by the world around him. He and his mum, Maruja, are always being closely watched and protected by the alpha male, Monano.

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The scarlet macaw, named Wanda, has been moved from the clinic and introduced directly to the other scarlet macaws in the Pichu enclosure. The introduction was monitored closely by the watchful eyes of both Peggy (our French volunteer) and Douwe. Wanda seemed to stand her ground and has now found her place in the enclosure.

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The two blue and yellow macaws, named Jada and Atlas, who were in the clinic together with Wanda were moved to the front cage of Elmo. Therefore, it was time for Inuka, Upendi (two yellow crowned Amazon parrots, and Dani/Daenarys (Mealy Amazon parrot) to make the transition to the main enclosure of Elmo. All went well for Inuka and Upendi, and they quickly showed their comfort in this big space by making their well-known noises: ‘’olla olla, Cuuricuuricuuri’’, and many more. Dani didn’t seem to be too happy, not being able to fly or fall gracefully; so we brought her back to the front cage, joining Jada and Atlas. Here Jada and Atlas will get the chance to adapt to their new surroundings.

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Kaluha, the juvenile female woolly monkey, who arrived some time ago, was released from the La Sapa cage, after spending a few weeks in there with Kamayo (adult male woolly) and the two capuchins she arrived with (Akemi and Kiano). She quickly adapted outside, being directly hugged by several of the outside woolly monkeys.

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Releases

As the Ministry of Fauna and Flora from Pucallpa was bringing several new animals (read further in the paragraph; SUST Orphan Animal Hospital), we took the opportunity to release (or in some cases soft-release) of several animals;

Payco, the male crab eating raccoon, has taken his first steps outside. Now it is a question of giving him a lot of practice while being with someone to guide him on late afternoon walks until he is accustomed enough to be outside on his own. He has a beautiful female, Eona (previously released), who has been visiting him during night time, and hopefully she will be able to show him the ropes about living outside.

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After adjusting to his new surroundings and meeting the resident monkeys, it was time to open the door for Akemi (juvenile male large headed capuchin) and Kiano (juvenile male Spix’s white fronted capuchin). They both are new at Esperanza Verde, and we hope they will adjust well in the outside group. Soon after his release Akemi tried to steal an egg from Samara (one of the adult female woolly monkeys) and learned the hard way that Samara is one you want to watch out for. He is doing fine, and Kiano, with his playful character already found his way to fool around with some of the other outside capuchins.

Selda, one of our adult female large headed capuchins previously enclosed in the Rimaq enclosure, joined Akemi and Kiano in La Sapa. After Selda was bitten by Kres during her stay in the Rimaq enclosure, we took her out and after some observation, and treatment at the clinic, we decided it was time for another attempt for her to be released at Esperanza Verde. Earlier releases were not successful, as she decided to follow some of us around even to the extent of knocking on the windows during evenings and sometimes at nights to get our attention. So for the last weeks she has been closed in with Kiano and Akemi, in the hope she will turn more to them for contact than to us, humans. Let’s hope for all our sake (including hers) it works out and she does not become another example of how much damage we humans can do to an animal by having them as a pet. So far so good, but she did show up directly on the first day hanging on the kitchen window peeking in.

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Kiro, (a young male large headed capuchin) who arrived with Kiano and Akemi, has been enclosed with Mica (our first female large headed capuchin) for several weeks. They seem to have bonded well, but we will give Kiro a bit more bonding time, before we let them both out.

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The two yellow spotted turtles, of which one had a damaged mandible, were moved, together with the Amazon mud turtle, to the Aguatena (a quarantine enclosure specially made for aquatic animals). They seemed to be very happy with the bigger surrounding and ability to swim, having some practice before their release. They were all released during the visit of the Ministry in the near surrounding at the small stream of Esperanza Verde.

SUST Animal Orphan Hospital

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After a short visit of Selda, and the movement of the macaws and turtles, the clinic became very quiet, with only Yanamayu left. It was in many ways a good thing, as now we could prepare for the new arrivals.

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Yanamayu, one of our enclosed adult large headed capuchin males, was moved last month to the La Sapa enclosure, but he still did not seem to thrive there. We moved him to the clinic, as space came available, were he underwent more intensive care. Finally after some weeks he seems to be more active, talkative and eating better. He is finally getting rid of some worms of the, for us so well-known, parasite; Prosthenorchis Elegans.

Only staying for some hours, was a three toed sloth. After being rescued from being pestered by some children, she was brought to us. The sloth, being well and coming straight from the wild, needed to be returned to the wild as soon as possible again. So after a medical check and as soon as it became dark, we released her in the safe surrounding of Esperanza Verde.

New animals

The Ministry brought us the following animals:

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Two red tailed boas. Both were already checked medically in Pucallpa by the veterinarian of the Ministry, and were declared ready for their release. We gave them a final medical check upon arrival and took them further into the forest of Esperanza Verde to be released. As it is a nice experience and sight for all to be able to set free two beautiful creatures of nature, they were accompanied on their way to freedom by all volunteers.

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A young white caiman, which also received a medical check from the veterinarian in Pucallpa and was declared healthy for release, as soon as it has put on sufficient weight and growth to be able to survive on its own. For now it will stay in the Aguatena, where we can oversee his ability of catching his own food, before realizing his release.

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A young female black spider monkey, a bit skinny and with a small bump on the forehead but very well in spirit. She was happy to get some nice food and will for now reside in the clinic. Yanay (our adult female spider monkey living outside seems to be smitten, and is hanging outside of clinic from dawn till dusk talking to the newcomer. We foresee a great future for the new female, as you can’t have anybody better to protect you than Yanay!

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A young male woolly monkey, handed over to us from someone in the village. They had bought her, and as often the story goes: It is fun for a while, but then they notice it is not like a normal pet, a monkey is curious, does not use a toilet, and will just open everything, if not only out of boredom of being with people. So after some time, they decided to give it up. Another sad ending as we know, for a wild female woolly, being the mother of this male and most certainly killed to get to this male baby. So here at Esperanza Verde we will provide him with a second chance and hope he will be well with our outside woolly monkeys after his quarantine time. Both the young spider as this woolly at least have a good start of arriving at the same time, so they will be spending the quarantine time together at the clinic, giving them both more comfort and less stress.

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A young female margay or ocelot of about 6 weeks old. At first it was thought by the Ministry it is a ocelot, but finally was brought in officially as a margay. We are still a bit in doubt. As it is so small the distinctive features as the length of the tail, are making it hard, although we tend to go more to ocelot at this stage (the tail just seems a bit short for a margay). In any case the small female should at least be twice its weight, so the first priority is to get her healthy and growing steadily. Being this young it would normally be with its mother full time, dependent on her care, milk and protection. She has been taken in by Olivia and Douwe who can provide her the intensive care needed at this age, till we have a more long term solution for her future to be.

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Construction and other

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With Craig and Geyler back, from a well-deserved holiday, new volunteers on the team, and Alexandra taking the reign again in the general management, some bigger construction projects that were on hold could be started. The first priority was the start of the renewal of the floor of the volunteerhouse. This will take several months, as it will be done while the house is occupied. Douwe and Geyler will be busy the coming weeks with the first room, while Craig can take a lot of Douwe’s duties of the on-site constructions and maintenance.

Volunteers

This was a refreshing month with new energy with all new people. We now have a crew of 5 volunteers, most staying with us for several months. Together with Craig, Alexandra, Geyler, Machico and Rolli (working at the organic plantation, Finca Don Jorge), we have a good group to get Esperanza Verde back to its normal routine again.