ARCAS

For my next trick, I will be performing the magical monkey feeding! Actually, that picture you see is of an 11 month old spider monkey. His name is Milo, and he is my responsibility at the moment at ARCAS.

ARCAS is an animal refuge center here in Guatemala, and it is the largest one in the country. Whenever the government confiscates an animal for being trapped and/or illegally smuggled, it is then delivered to us at the center to hopefully once again be released back into the wild. This place is absolutely incredible and the work being done here is fantastic.

There is lots of work to do here with only six full time staff members working with the animals. A typical day is:

6:15 Wake up
6:30-8 Morning shift of cleaning enclosures and feeding the animals
8-9 "Human Breakfast"
9-11 Chores, which include daily towel cleaning from the baby monkey cages and many other tasks such as landscaping or bringing up the druit delivery to the kitchen
11-1 Midday shift of cleaning and feeding the animals
1-2 Lunch
2-3 Final shift of working with the animals

At three each day we are done, but man is it exhausting work. I then get to take my relaxing cold shower--there is no hot water here, so every shower is just nice and cool, but refreshing after a long day in the 80 degree and humid heat--and we all get to chill until dinner at 6. Afternoons and evenings include book reading, movie watching, game playing, dock swimming, you get the idea.

ARCAS currently has about 550 animals. Some animals can never be released due to injury or dependency on humans, but the goal is always to get them back into nature. We have spider and howler monkeys, macaws and other parrots, a deer breeding program because they are endangered here, turtles, and almost any animal that lives in Guatemala. There is a Jaguar here as well. She is five, but she cannot be released because her habitat was destroyed when she was found nearly dead at three months. Releasing these animals in another country just isn't feasable, so she has been here for five years now. She is incredible, gorgeous, and just plain stunning when you watch her yawn and display all those teeth.

The work has been hard but very rewarding thus far. After only a week I feel like one of the leaders and that I know what is going on everywhere. We have volunteers from the US, England, Australia, Germany, and Canada. An eclectic mix, but great thus far.