One of my favorite and most career-defining work came in 2012 when I worked with a remote animal sanctuary in the Bolivian Amazon. This group was Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi, a Bolivian-run organization that works with conservation in the region. The sanctuary I worked at, Parque Ambue Ari, had mainly large cats--pumas, jaguars, ocelots, Geoffrey's cats, and margays. The sanctuary also hosted many more interesting animals like tapirs, deer, and multiple different species of birds and monkeys.
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| Rural Bolivia near Santa Cruz de la Sierra |
My work was with the pumas that were named after the organization--Inti, Wara, and Yassi. They were three sisters that all were housed in the same enclosure.
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| Yassi and Wara, puma sisters |
The majority of my responsibilities with the sisters were taking them on long walks (yes, like a dog) through their trails outside their enclosures. While this is a rather "unique" approach for a sanctuary, it was an amazing experience.
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| Walking Inti through her trails in the Amazon |
Despite the never-ending mosquitos, large strange-colored flying bugs, rats, cockroaches, water-bourne illness, and the other joys that come with field work in the rainforest, it was all worth it to know that we were helping wildlife that truly had no where else to go. Many of these animals were rescued from roadside zoos, poachers, and even from the estates of drug lords. Parque Ambue Ari provided a "forever home" to many of these cats, who can be happy, healthy, and well-fed. It was incredibly rewarding to spend long days out in the swamps walking with Inti, Wara, and Yassi!
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