Filthy conditions, no food or water, an endangered oncilla near death...thats what I encountered on my visit to Inrena, the government animal holding centre in Iquitos.
Inrena is the official destination for animals that have been confiscated from animal traffickers and traders. Definitely a fate worse than death to be imprisoned at Inrena. A lucky few will leave to go to the local Qistococha zoo but most will stay until they die of disease or old age.There is no current program for the rehabilitation of these animals back into the jungle.
It is illegal to catch and sell wildlife but if you visit the Belen market in Iquitos you will always see a huge array of wildlife for sale: monkeys, snakes, parrots, sloths, you name it. Animals crammed into tiny dirty cages. Its not unusual to see birds, monkeys and tortoises all in together battling for space. Anacondas are commonly squashed into large coca-cola bottles. It is heartbreaking. Larger animals such as jaguars, giant otters or giant anteaters can all be purchased. Just ask a trader and any animal can be caught from the wild.
The government is too corrupt to care. Everyday endangered species are being flown out of Iquitos airport to destinations in the USA or Europe. These wild animals (that is the ones that don´t die along the way) will end up in zoos, private collections or perhaps their fate will be to be shot and killed in ´canned hunts´ in Texas.
Forged documents are easy to obtain. Pay a bribe and buy papers that declare that the animal was "captive bred" and it can be legally exported from Peru. Catching and exporting wild animals is a corrupt and evil billion dollar industry that will eventually result in the extinction of these incredible creatures. And when you consider that the future of animals that are actually confiscated by the police is to go to Inrena, the situation seems hopeless.
But there is hope!
Antony Taggart from Zoo Peru www.zooperu.com is the one person who can change all this. He is a man with a vision and that vision is to take over the running of Inrena and to improve the lives of its inmates and ultimately to start a rehabilitation program to get these animals back into the wild where the belong.
