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March 2007 We had a really busy January and February. First I had to finish classes at the university, then on the 8th of February my father came to Lima and took me to Chile for 2 weeks of holiday. We visited the highlands and the Atacama desert, which was quite a change from the Amazon! At the beginning of January we were called by a fishermen who had captured a manatee—last year a politician had asked them to do so and promised he would buy it. But that man, the regional president, lost the election and also the intention of buying a seacow. The fishermen had caught the manatee and put it into a little hole in the mud-too small for it, so the tail remained outside. When they called us, it was to tell us that they had a sick manatee. Robler went to see it and made them dig the hole a little bigger and put at least some plastic inside so the water wouldn't get even muddier.We had no intentions of buying the animal—but they wanted to sell it—telling us that the politician had offered 1000 Soles, which isabout 300US$. After several days the men called again telling us the animal didn't want to eat anymore. It had been in the mud hole about three weeks before we transported it to Pilpintuwasi. One photo is of its injured tail/fin. Some friends from Germany, who visited Pilpintuwasi in 2005, helped us pay for the transport and gave some money to the fishermen who wanted to get at least some recompensation for having it kept. In honor of those friends—Marion, Sabine and Klaus—the manatee is now called Marbino. Klaus didn't get a part, but the "o" is because the Manatee is a male. At first Marbino was very shy, but is now fine and losing his fear a bit, although we still don't see any more of him than his nostrils when he eats. We usually don't even tell our visitors that there's a manatee in the pond so they won't be dissapointed because they can't see it. We also have another newcomer—a baby Saddleback Tamarind.The little monkey was left on New Years's Eve by a little girl from Padrecocha. She told us that her brothers had killed the parent who had been carrying it, and she didn't know how to feed it. The first weeks Wicky, as we called it, stayed inside the house because she needed food every 3 hours. She is doing very well. Now that she doesn't need as much milk, and we also want her to get more independent, she is outside and she has 2 stepmothers! Tony, the pickpocket, and Zecke the female Sakimonkey, take turns in carrying Wicky around and teaching her what to eat, how to climb etc. Here are pictures of Wicky when she arrived and now with her step-parents. I have to go to see our veterinarian. Lola has problems. She had an operation ten days ago, but she isn't healing well. We are quite worried as it would be very difficult to sedate her again. We hope she gets better soon. I hope ,Dianne, you and your family are very well-and maybe planning a visit to Peru?!Robler and me hope to see you this year! Best wishes from all of us. Gudrun
PS: In this month's edition of the German magazine GEO, there's a report about red Uacaries, and almost all the pictures in the magazine show our Chavo. There's also a picture of Robler and little Pauly. Maybe one can see it on the internet too. |
Amazon Animal Orphanage
Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm
www.AmazonAnimalOrphanage.org
pilpintuwasi@hotmail.com
063-23-2665
Padre Cocha
Iquitos, Peru