The causes are repeated and in almost all of them the hand of man appears.
The Temaikén Foundation Hospital and Species Recovery Center received 642 animals in 2022. Many are taken by people, others are referred there from state agencies.
The vast majority comes from
illegal trafficking and the petization
of species that are not domestic.
In 16 years, Temaiken reinserted more than 4,200 specimens into their natural habitat.
"She's strong, isn't she? wildlife," said Rodrigo Sartori, a veterinarian at the Temaikén Hospital.
A cat receives treatment at the Temaiken Foundation Hospital.
Photo Juan Manuel Foglia
"These animals are from the jungle or the mountains, in the north of our country, not from here. She was desperate for food. After doing the checkups, we discovered that she was pregnant. Cases like this are the ones that destroy you," said the vet. .
Pets and illegal trade
Like the mane bear, millions of animals are victims of trafficking and the consequent petization.
In the world, every year 30,000 mammals, 6,000 million fish and amphibians
, more than two million reptiles and between two and five million birds are trafficked
, according to the Convention on International Trade in Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
"Now we have received a seizure of 80 cocotillas, a showy bird with a pleasant song," said Lina Zabala, a biologist at the Rescue Center.
In the year 2022,
83% of the animals received by the Foundation were birds
.
They are also the most trafficked animal in the country.
Parrot victim of illegal trafficking
Macaws in plastic bottles, canaries stacked in clipboard tubes, fifty birds crammed into a shoebox, some dead on top of the live ones.
This is how they usually arrive at the Foundation.
After birds, the most trafficked animal is the turtle.
In the year 2022, the Temaikén Foundation received 50 of them.
They are followed by monkeys, some cats and deer, as the most trafficked in the country.
One of the peculiar animals that the Foundation receives are
spiders
.
"They are a typical trafficked animal. They come from the jungle and are brought to be resold. When they arrive here, we put them to sleep and we check them like any other animal," Sartori said.
Confiscation of animals victims of illegal trafficking.
Petism is not the only consequence of traffic.
In Argentina, the swamp deer
is trafficked for its antlers, leather, and meat
.
Every wild animal that comes from this trade means other animals killed.
To remove a baby monkey from the wild, traffickers first have to kill its parents.
bullets and hooks
"Recently, a ñacurutú - a large owl - entered the hospital with a very severe wound on part of the wing and thorax. We are doing everything in our power to close that wound and, later, see if the animal is in condition to fly again," said the vet.
Hands of specialists to treat species that arrive injured.
Photo Juan Manuel Foglia
Another reason why animals arrive at the Veterinary Hospital is because they are
shot or stoned by people
.
Injured by pellets, pellets and stones, birds are the animals that enter the most.
"There is a great lack of awareness among the people, shooting a bird is not a game," said Sartori.
"Now we have a hawk with multiple fractures, most likely from being shot," he added.
A peculiar case that arrived once was a lagoon turtle, they are frequent in the area.
"When we made the plates, we discovered that it had
three hooks, two in the neck and one, 5 or 6 centimeters, in the stomach
," said the biologist.
run over and burned
By
run over
, birds and small mammals usually arrive, such as foxes, skunks and furry ones.
It is one of the frequent causes and even, sometimes, it is the same people who hit the animal who bring it.
But others leave them abandoned on the side of the road, until someone else finds them, picks them up and takes them to the Center.
caring for a little fox
In one of the rooms of the Hospital, you have to wear cotillion masks to enter.
There are baby wildcats there, they came in recently rescued from a fire in the Ciervo de los Pantanos National Park, the mother did not appear.
When they arrived, their hair was singed and their eyes had just opened.
The mask is used so that these
black kittens
do not associate the people who feed them with their mother who cares for them.
The recovery of the animals is done with as little human contact as possible so as not to interfere with the future development of their behavior.
Medical control for animals in Temaiken.
Photo Juan Manuel Foglia
Another animal that was a victim of the fire was an obero lizard.
Little by little, using its ability to change its skin, the lizard shed the one that was burned until it could recover.
"Unnecessary" bailouts
In addition to seizures for
pets and illegal trafficking,
animals that arrive shot or run over, many enter for
"
unnecessary rescues
. "
They are animals that people find in nature, think they are sick or need to be rescued, catch them and take them to Temaikén.
"It happens a lot with turtles, which are reptiles so they have a slower metabolism. There are a lot of freshwater turtles in this area. People see them, say 'look, a turtle', pick them up and bring them, but Nothing was wrong with the animal, it was just living its life," they told from Temaikén.
Why having wild animals is not the same as having dogs or cats
Caraya, marmoset, and capuchin
monkeys
turtles, all kinds of parrots -large and small parrots, macaws-, foxes, wild cats, nutria, capybaras, even birds of prey.
These are just some of the animals that are victims of pets and illegal trafficking.
An owl undergoing treatment at the Temaiken Foundation.
Photo Juan Manuel Foglia
"First, because of the
zoonotic diseases
that we can catch or that we can transmit to the animal. Then, because it is very difficult for a pet animal to return to its environment and interact with its kind," Zabala replied when Clarín
asked
why wild animals should not be kept as pets.
"The domestication process of animals that are used to living under human care, such as cows, dogs, sheep and others, took place over thousands of years," the vet answered the same question.
"In contrast, wild animals do not meet all their needs under human care. Furthermore, the law prohibits it," he added.
"Each animal fulfills an ecological role. It is the balance of nature that is broken when we remove an animal from a species, even more so when it comes to endangered species," said the biologist.
"When there are fewer individuals left, genetic diversity - the variety of genes that contribute to the adaptation of life - suffers."
MG
look too
First the capybaras, now the foxes: why animals appear in some neighborhoods of the GBA
Registry of dangerous dogs: what breeds are included and how many pets are registered
