Esperanza Verde is a conservation project in the Amazon basin of Peru, consisting of both wildlife rescue and rainforest protection. The objective is to work closely together with the local community so that the forest can be managed in a sustainable way. The projects now owns 180 hectares of rainforest, named ‘Selva Dormida’. With the help of the people of Bello Horizonte, the neighboring village, we hope to be able to protect a bigger area in the future.
Many wildlife species find their way into the local and international black markets to be sold either for food or as pets. Because this is illegal, many animals are regularly confiscated. These animals need a home for the rest of their lives and, if possible, need rehabilitation and reintroduction into the wild.
Esperanza Verde Rescue Center is able to receive confiscated animals, injured animals as well as animals from private persons who, for various reasons, realized these animals are unfit to be pets.
In the rescue center the animals will get professional care and will be reacquainted to a life that is within their natural habitat and as natural as possible.
Esperanza Verde is being financed mostly by private funding. Being a private initiative, Esperanza Verde will receive no governmental funding and will be run entirely on donations and the help of volunteers. Esperanza Verde is already supported by a UK charity, a Dutch foundation, a German association and a Swiss association.
The Wildlife Rescue Centre as we imagine it in the future
The Wildlife Rescue Center of Esperanza Verde provides shelter for dislocated native animals. Most of these animals are confiscated from the illegal trade, and some have been abandoned by previous owners once they were deemed unfit as pets.
At the center animals are able to live in their natural environment, some in large enclosures and others in semi-captivity, depending on their behavior and ability to live peacefully with the other animals at the center.
Animals that are identified as eligible for rehabilitation and reintroduction will be transitioned to a rehabilitation and reintroduction site, with the end goal being a release into the wild.
In general most animals that are confiscated have been in contact with humans, either briefly or for longer periods of time (previous pets). Having been in trade or in a holding facility, most often in contact with other wild animals and, in some cases with domesticated ones, confiscated wild animals are likely to have been exposed to
diseases and parasites.If returned to the wild, these animals may infect other wild animals, thus causing serious, and potentially irreversible, problems.
They might have lost their natural instincts and depend on humans for food and shelter. This learned behavior, as well as the risk of disease transmission, which can be reduced by strict quarantine and medical examinations, unfortunately makes most of these animals unfit for reintroduction as this could lead to the endangerment of other wild population.
→ More about the Wildlife Rescue Centre
Volunteers
Esperanza Verde, will be needing the support of volunteers. Construction of animal enclosures, reforestation, and animal caretaking are some of the things that will need to be done with the help of volunteers.
Esperanza Verde offers a wider range of research opportunities for researchers and students. In the past years naturals scientists, veterinarians and environmental engineers conducted different projects. Examples are the built up of a tree nursery, the establishment of an inventory for tree seedlings, field course for veterinarians or support in the establishment of a water supply system.
→ More about Volunteering
Support
Esperanza Verde is being financed mostly by private funding. Being a private initiative, Esperanza Verde will receive no governmental funding and will be run entirely on donations and the help of volunteers. Esperanza Verde is already supported by a UK charity, a Dutch foundation, a German association and a Swiss association.
→ More on how to support
