This is the first lowland paca that was at Proyecto Asis and one we can release, some are still in rehabilitation. This one was ready to go. This beautiful animal is commonly hunted for their meat, but this was released in a safe area surrounded by forest rangers. Thanks to SINAC for the video where you see it go into the wild.
Esta es el primer tepezcuintle que podemos liberar, aún tenemos en rehabilitación. Éste estaba listo para ser libre. Tan hermoso animal es comúnmente cazado por su carne, pero este fue liberado en un área segura rodeada por guardabosques. Gracias a SINAC por el video donde podemos verlo libre en su hábitat.
One found unable to fly, three found in an unsafe area
This week we received two species of owls and we will be caring for them until they are ready to be free again.
Three baby barn owls(Tyto alba) reported in a property where they could become an easy pray for domestic animals, so they were brought here by collaborators of Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC)
Yesterday we received a crested owl(Lophostrix cristata) found nearby the new street in Florencia, San Carlos. Apparently unable to fly (possibly hit by a car, they reported).
Next week we are doing some tests to see if we can release this crested owl. We will be caring for all it’s needs until then and hopefully will be free again.
The baby barn owls will have to stay longer, but we hopefully see them go away as soon as they are ready. We have succesfully done this before in other occasions. _______
Esta semana recibimos dos especies de búhos/lechuzas y los cuidaremos hasta que estén listos para ser liberados nuevamente.
Tres lechuzas de campanario (Tyto alba) bebés fueron encontradas en una propiedad donde podían ser fácilmente presas de los animales domésticos, por lo que fueron traídas aquí por colaboradores del Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC) Ayer además recibimos un búho penachudo (Lophostrix cristata) traído por el también colaborador del SINAC Victor Solís, y encontrado cerca de la nueva calle en Florencia, San Carlos. Aparentemente no puede volar (posiblemente fue atropellado por un automóvil, informaron). La próxima semana haremos algunas pruebas para ver si podemos liberar este búho. Nos ocuparemos de todo lo que necesite hasta entonces y, con suerte, será libre nuevamente. Las lechuzas bebé deberán permanecer más tiempo, pero esperamos verlas desaparecer tan pronto como estén listas. Lo hemos hecho con éxito antes en otras ocasiones.
After 5 months recovery, finally, the effort of so many people has been rewarded, the rescue and care after the surgery from our staff, as well as the collaboration of Victor Solís Fonseca, the veterinarians at RIVET. National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) staff that lead us to the ideal location to release. We have released one more species, a female ocelot. We also want to thank all those people willing to donate. It helped in the expenses of the surgeries and daily care.
The ocelot was hit by a car and sent into a small river. Neighbors had called our rescue center to notify us and we proceeded to help.
El gran premio del esfuerzo de tantas personas, el rescate y cuidados después de cirugía de personal de Proyecto Asis, así como la colaboración de Victor Solís Fonseca, además a los veterinarios de Clinica Veterinaria RIVET quienes estuvieron a cargo de la delicada cirugía, y compañeros de Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC) que nos acompañaron en la localización idónea y la liberación.
Hemos liberado una especie más, una hembra que deseamos cuente con muchos años más de vida, e incluso crías.
Este felino había sido golpeado por un carro que le quebró dos huesos el año pasado. Vecinos que trabajaban en la zona nos notificaron y fuimos a rescatarla.
More sloths are free now. Brought here by the firefighters. The report says they (a couple) fell from a tree and went into the river. These sloths were rescued and this male (see the mark on the back on this first video) was ready. A couple of days later the female sloth was released too.
Sloths do not like captivity at all. The stress can even kill them, so as soon as we see a sloth doing fine we release them. One more day was needed for the mom to go free, so she was released with her baby.
Free sloths everywhere is what we want to see.
Otros perezosos son liberados este mes. Traído aquí por los bomberos. El informe dice que ellos (una pareja) se cayeron de un árbol directo al río. Fueron rescatados y este macho (ver la marca en la parte posterior) está listo. En un par de días la hembra se liberó también.
A los perezosos no les gusta el cautiverio. El estrés puede incluso matarlos, así que tan pronto como vemos que un perezoso que cuidamos está bastante mejor, lo liberamos. Se necesitaba un día más para que la mamá saliera libre. Fue liberada con su bebé.
In early January, several couples of boat-billed herons started to make nests.These herons usually start making nests in February. This 2019 is an exception or some say this comes with the climate change as other trees also started to bloom before their time.
They nest where the branches of the trees come together and are suspended over calm waters.
Both parents incubate the eggs and feed and care for the babies, that’s a wonderful teamwork. Female lays from 2 to 4 eggs that incubate during about 23 to 28 days the female and the male.
They are nocturnal, although during the breeding season it is easy to see them in constant activity during the whole day aswell.
They usually hunt during the night in shallow waters: amphibians, fish, insects and small mammals.
In our rescue center we have the opportunity to care for animals in need, but also to see Costa Rican wildlife up-close as they made us their home.
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A principios de enero, varias parejas de chocuacos empezaron a hacer nidos.
Estas garzas suelen comenzar a hacer nidos en febrero. Este 2019 parece la excepción; o algunos dicen que esto se da por el cambio climático ya que incluso árboles también comenzaron a florecer antes de tiempo.
Anidan donde las ramas de los árboles se unen y se suspenden sobre aguas tranquilas.
Ambos padres incuban los huevos, alimentan y cuidan a los bebés, eso es un maravilloso trabajo en equipo. La hembra pone de 2 a 4 huevos que incuban durante aproximadamente 23 a 28 días entre ambos.
Son nocturnos, aunque durante la época de reproducción es fácil verlos en constante actividad durante todo el día.
Por lo general, cazan durante la noche en aguas poco profundas: anfibios, peces, insectos y pequeños mamíferos.
On June 19, 2018, our collaborator and coordinator of volunteer programs, Adriana Aguilar, visited the Colegio Agropecuario de San Carlos, located in Santa Clara.
The talk consisted of the importance of wildlife in their natural habitat and the negative effects caused by both animals and ecosystems the removal of these from their natural habitat.
Wild animals in their natural habitat perform vital functions. Being part of the food chain, whether as prey or predator and disseminating seeds, allows the regeneration of the forest and a perfect balance.
The subtraction of animals from their natural habitat to be used as pets generates negative effects to the animals.
The stress of captivity by keeping them in small prisons, called cages; and inappropriate foods such as dough, bread with coffee and seeds that cause addiction to caffeine and fatty liver, are some of them.
Remember that the role that animals have in ecosystems will never be achieved or replaced by us.
Students from High School pay attention to educational speech from Proyecto Asis
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‘‘Llévalos en tu corazón, pero déjalos en el bosque.’’
Este 19 de junio de 2018, nuestra colaboradora y encargada del departamento de coordinación de programas de voluntariado, Adriana Aguilar, visitó el Colegio Agropecuario de San Carlos, ubicado en Santa Clara.
La charla consistió en la importancia de la vida silvestre en su hábitat natural y los efectos negativos que causa tanto para los animales como para los ecosistema la sustracción de estos de su habitad natural.
Los animales silvestres en su habitad natural cumplen funciones vitales. Ser parte de la cadena alimenticia, ya sea como presa o depredador y diseminar semillas, permiten la regeneración de los bosque y un equilibrio perfecto en estos.
La sustracción de estos de su hábitat natural para ser utilizados como mascotas generan efectos negativos a los animales. El estrés del cautiverio al mantenerlos en pequeñas cárceles, llamadas jaulas; y alimentos inapropiados como masa, pan con café y semillas que generan adicción a la cafeína e hígado graso, son alguno de ellos.
Recordemos que el rol que tienen los animales en los ecosistemas jamás será logrado o reemplazado por nosotros.
Last Saturday we had the visit of Dr. Beremiz Sánchez. He is the veterinarian who inspired us to make a prosthesis for Piquito, the toucan who was sadly hurt. He has a veterinary clinic in Mexico and has already successfully performed this procedure previously on other toucans.
Thanks to the design he made, Piquito can have a similar prosthesis in a few months.
We thank Dr. Sánchez for his interest in helping us.
More news about Piquito soon!
El sábado anterior contamos con la visita del Dr. Beremiz Sánchez, MDV. quien es el médico veterinario que nos inspiró en hacer una prótesis para Piquito,
acorde con su pico. Él cuenta con una clínica veterinaria en México y ya ha realizado exitosamente este procedimiento anteriormente en otros tucanes.
Gracias al diseño que él elaboró, Piquito podrá contar con una prótesis similar en pocos meses.
Agradecemos al Dr. Sánchez su interés en querer ayudarnos.
Today we want to share a little bit about caimans.
Unlike birds and mammals, they cannot maintain a constant body temperature, so depending on temperature they move back and forth between warm and cool parts of their environment. In cold weather they bask in the sun to heat up, and in hot weather they seek shaded, cool areas to avoid overheating. They often open their mouths, allowing the brain to cool through evaporative cooling, while the rest of the body is heating.
Hoy queremos compartir un poco sobre los caimanes.
A diferencia de las aves y los mamíferos, los caimanes no pueden mantener una temperatura corporal constante, por lo que dependiendo de la temperatura se mueven hacia adelante y hacia atrás entre las partes calientes y frías de su entorno.
En clima frío se posan directamente de manera que el sol les dé, y en clima caliente buscan zonas sombreadas, frescas para evitar el sobrecalentamiento.
A menudo abren su boca, permitiendo que el cerebro se enfríe, mientras que el resto del cuerpo se está calentando.
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, June 17th
Desertification is the process of land degradation (typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife) in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas due to climatic variations and human activities.
Causes: Overgrazing is the major cause of desertification worldwide, urbanization, climate change, overdrafting of groundwater, deforestation, naturaldisasters and farmingpractices in agriculture are others that cause it.
One third of world’s land surface is threatened by desertification and across the world it affects livelihood of millions of people that needs what the lands used to provide.
Effects: No farming, hunger, floods, poor water quality, crowding and overpopulation, poverty.
Solutions: Policies related to how people can farm (how often, how much, what type) that can regulate and diminish desertification.
Educate people on sustainable practices will save more land from becoming desert.
We required technology to be created when it gets so difficult to avoid.
Wildlife, when they are in their real home they can help with the process of reforestation. They are not where they are just for no reason. We must respect their ecosystem. Years ago, some ecologists made a wrong decision in Africa and killed 40.000 thousand elephants as they thought they were triggering desertification and it went worse without them. Later, they realized about this mistake and repopulated lands facing desertification issues with thousands of animals in the correct ecosystem that helped improved the lands much more. You can see this on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI
We can still save our lands, but we must act now.
Deforestation and Drought
Citation:
Rinkesh, ‘‘What is desertification?’’ www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-desertification.php. September 17th, 2015. Website June 16th, 2016
Collaborative Health
How Human-Influenced Animal Diseases Are Bad For All Of Us
Sickness and disease are an undeniable fact of nature. Animals and plants frequently sicken and die, sometimes in greater numbers than others. However, unless there is something seriously wrong with the ecosystem as a whole, sickness should not prove a major problem to biodiversity or population stability. Sickness and disease in wild plants and creatures may seem like one aspect of the environment which is beyond the direct control of humans. However, the alarming number of wildlife epidemics sweeping through the world at the moment has something very serious to say about the state of our planet in general. Unfortunately, humans cannot discount our own environmental impacts from the causes of this sad state of affairs. Nor should we be complacent about this. Humans, too, can be seriously affected by diseases which begin in the wild – and the gathering strength of several animal sicknesses could have major human implications if we do not begin to right the damages we have caused.
Wildlife Epidemics
The world is seeing entire species falling to a range of diseases on an unprecedented scale. Chytridiomycosis – which infects the skin of amphibians – is wiping out millions of the world’s frogs. The floors of American bat roosts are littered with the corpses of bats which have fallen prey to a new fungal disease known as ‘White Nose Syndrome’. A contagious facial cancer (a grouping of words which must strike fear into anyone’s heart) is killing Tasmanian devils. And in the UK, the stately ash trees which populate the decidious woods and ancient folklore of the island are succumbing in their thousands to a fungal infection known as Chalara dieback of ash. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. It would take pages and pages to detail all of the epidemics currently facing the world’s wildlife. Suffice it to say that the state of affairs is not good at all.
Human Implications
For the ecologically minded among us, this rise in wildlife diseases is a tragedy in its own right. But even those who are less inclined to care about the fates of plants and animals should be concerned. For not only are humans deeply implicated within the emergence of these diseases (more on that later), we are also threatened by them. Anyone who works with wild animals will be aware of the health precautions which must be taken in order to reduce the risk of cross-infection between human and animal. Humans are not immune to animal diseases – and, as animal pathogens and diseases proliferate and multiply, more and more of them are mutating in ways which allows them to infect humans. Indeed, it should be noted that some of our most fearsome epidemics have originated within the animal kingdom. The recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has been linked to the hunting of great apes (who also suffer from Ebola) and fruit bats. HIV/AIDS is believed to have passed to humans from chimpanzees. And let us not forget the bubonic plague, which killed an entire third of the human population in the fourteenth century. The ‘Black Death’ still lurks within rodent and flea populations. Given the right conditions, it could rise again.
Why Is This Happening?
Disease may appear to be something which is largely uncontrollable and un-influencable in wild situations. And it’s certainly true that once a virus or pathogen gains enough momentum to begin mutating and spreading exponentially then there is not a lot which can be done. However, humans could do with taking a closer look at the conditions which are allowing these illnesses to get out of control in the first place. Scientists are extremely concerned about the growing potential for animal illnesses to spread to human populations, and have made no bones about pointing the finger of blame firmly at human activity. It is humans who have forced alien species into close proximity with each other, resulting in the dangerous mixing and breeding of viruses and bacteria. It is humans who have warmed, deforested, and acidified the planet – creating fertile conditions in which pathogens find it easy to flourish and spread. It is humans who have destroyed wild habitats, bringing weakened and infected animals closer to human habitations. And it is humans who will ultimately suffer, unless something is done to halt the spread of pestilence in the wild.
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