With the animals

OK, so for those of you who would like to know what the animals are: the first 2 are both spider monkeys - one a juvenile, the second a baby at 5 months, and the cat is an ocelot.

They are just a small selection of the large number of birds, mammals and reptiles that are at ARCAS. At the moment are rought inventory is:
BIRDS:
300-400 parrots of 5 or 6 species, ranging from juvenile to adult.
50 or so Scarlet Macaws
About 10 Toucans
20 or so Chacaracas (not sure what they're called really, they look like black turkeys)
REPTILES
6 crocodiles (5 are babies)
A few turtles
PRIMATES
3 Yucatan black howler monkeys
30-40 Spider monkeys in various stages of rehabiliation
CATS:
5 margays
1 jaguarundi
3 ocelots
1 jaguar
OTHER MAMMALS:
1 kinkaju
3 coatimundis
3 racoons
3 tayras
5 wild pigs
4 white tailed deer

For those of you who don't know what some of thoses are - don't worry, I didn't either. Over the past 2 weeks I have been working with virtually all of these animals excep tthe Macaws and the large cats (jaguar and ocelots), so I'll show you photos when I remember to bring my memory stick (oops).

ARCAS works to rehabiliate animals for their release into the wild, which is a 3 stage process. Initially, the animals need to be physically and medically rehabiliated and this occurs in quarantine, where almost all of the volunteer work takes place. The third stage of rehabilitation is the hardest, and that is behavioural rehab.

The typical ARCAS day starts at 7am, when all the animals in quarantine are fed and watered. This happens again at 11am and 2pm, and the juvenile animals and nocturnal animals also get fed at 5pm. Over that past 2 weeks I have been looking after alomst all the cages possible - racoons, juvenile spider monkeys (and the cute baby), howler monkeys, margays, lots of different birds, wild pigs and now coatimundis. Normally volunteers are not allowed in with mature spider monkeys - they can be very aggressive - or tayras, ocelots or coatimundis. As an exception I am looking after the coatis now - I like to think because of my experience, but more probably because of my size! You have to be pretty handy with a broom to avoid some nice sharp teeth being sunk into your leg.

In addition to the usual feeding and cleaning, I'm also helping with the veterinary cases. At the moment that is limited to a toucan with a broken leg, and watching juvenile parrot autopies (more than 80% die in captivity before reaching maturity). I am also unofficial guardian of the baby spider monkey, keeping an eye on it's weight, growth and diet. And last week, when both normal staff vets were absent, one of the wild pigs became very sick, which was a challenge for me. Despite my proclamations of doom and limited drugs, the pig is now happy and healthy again - not bad considering it's body temperature was 4 degrees below normal and it was very shocked.

So, anyway, next week I'll put some pictures on ("hooray", I hear you cry!) and will try and give a brief overview of the rehab process for the different types of animals here. I'll also let you know how it's going in my attempt to wangle a place on a trip to release a group of spider monkeys in probably the most remote area of Guatemala - Parque Nacional Rio Azul. As for now, the temperature outside is 90F, it's raining and I'm going to get a beer.