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la comunidad virtual de Iquitos,
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Recently, it came to our attention
that the pastor at my local church, Father Raymundo Portelli of the San
Martín de Porres parrish in Iquitos, keeps several wild animals at the
church. The animals were given to him in order to find them a decent home,
but Father Raymundo has been unable to do so. There isn’t enough money
to take care of the animals, and local organizations are unable to take them
off his hands.
One of the animals is an adult male
jaguar, named Otto. The animal was
given to Father Raymundo when it was just a baby. It had been abandoned,
along with a baby brother, put in a bag and tossed away. The other
jaguar-kitten was already dead at the time, and Father Raymundo took in the
surviving kitten. But that was 5
years ago, and the now fully grown cat has lived on a chain, in a 100-square
foot cage, ever since. The reason the animal is kept on a chain inside his
cage, is that Father Raymundo worries that the cage is not strong enough to
hold Otto inside. If the animal should escape, the consequences could be
severe.
Otto is not the only big cat at the church; there is
also a puma, named Kimba. Shocking conditions: Father Raymundo
pays for their food from his own pocket, but the conditions in which these
animals live are plainly shocking. They are solitary animals that need a
50-square kilometer habitat in the jungle, not a tiny cage in the city. Apart
from that, Father Raymundo cannot afford the feed the animals the red meat they
require. Iquitos is an isolated city that can only be reached by air or by
river. There are no roads that lead here. That means beef has to be flown in,
which makes it expensive. That’s why the cats live on a diet of one
chicken per day, with occasionally some additional fish. This is completely
inadequate for these animals, which, as a result, suffer from malnutrition. Release impossible: Unfortunately,
they cannot be released in the wild. They are used to being around and being
fed by humans, and are unable to find their own food. If set free, these
animals would approach humans in the jungle, with foreseeable dramatic
consequences. What they need is a decent home, where they can be looked after
and cared for. We want to try and help find a
solution for the giant cats. It is painful to see how Otto and Kimba suffer.
It is like they are being punished, while they didn’t do anything
wrong. It’s been five years and hopefully we can provide them with a
decent home. Cost of adoption: What we need is for someone to adopt
these animals. It will take a one-time donation of 10,000 dollars each to
build a cage, followed by continuing monthly support of 300 dollars each to
feed them, pay for maintenance and care, as well as periodical visits by the
local vet. A similar cage, located at the local
butterfly farm and animal rescue center Pilpintuwasi, was donated by an
American lady. It cost 10,000 dollars to build. Maintenance and food for
Pedro Bello, the jaguar there, costs about 300 dollars a month. I spoke with
owner Gudrun Sperrer, but she told me they are unable to take Otto in. There
just isn’t any money for it, and the two jaguars, both males, cannot
share the same space. We have a support group in place and
we can manage this as an ongoing project, but we need the money AND the
commitment from an outside sponsor to give Otto and Kimba the home they
deserve. Opportunity for education:
We think this situation presents a great opportunity for us to help educate
the local population –particularly children- about animal well-being
and animal rights. We think it could be something similar in your country as
well, if a group of people, students maybe, could adopt Otto and Kimba. You
could use this opportunity in your own country as a means of raising
awareness and to educate the young about the need for preservation of the
rainforest and its inhabitants. I believe there are countless ways of turning
this situation into a positive experience for all involved. Particularly for
Otto and Kimba. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and
for your consideration. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas,
and suggestions. With
kind regards, Gart van Gennip, CEO ikitos.com Iquitos,
Peru If you want to
verify this story and check out some of the names and places I mentioned in
this mail, here are some useful links: San Martin de Porres parrish: www.sanmartindeporresiquitos.com Father Raymundo Portelli: rportelli@lycos.com Pilpintuwasi: www.amazonanimalorphanage.org Gudrun Sperrer: pilpintuwasi@yahoo.es |
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