2001 MID-YEAR UPDATE
On behalf of the board and staff of ARCAS, we would like to express our sympathy and condolences to all those who have suffered from the horrible series of events that occurred this past 11th of September. Our hearts go out to those who died and suffered injury and lament the insecurity that has gripped the United States and the world and the threat to all our freedoms that these senseless acts pose.
Here in Guatemala, 2001 has seen the continued deterioration of the economy and increased political instability and crime, especially in the Peten region, an area of the country that until recent years was known as a quiet backwater. The added insecurity that has gripped the country, has posed for us here in ARCAS new challenges in our efforts to conserve endangered species and their habitat of Guatemala.
PETEN
Since moving our Rescue Center and the animals to the new site in June of last year, with the help of the Japanese Embassyís APC Fund we have concentrated on finishing the construction of the rehabilitation enclosures, the biotery and the quarantine area. The completion of the rehabilitation enclosures - three enclosures for mammals, one of 2500M2 and two of 1250M2 and an aviary of 2310M3 ñ marked a real turning point for the ARCAS Rescue Center, finally giving us the infrustructure we need to begin operating the Center as it should: a state-of-the-art wild animal rehabilitation facility. We can now begin improving our techniques and conducting research on wild animal rehabilitation.
The first troupe of spider monkeys were transferred into the largest rehabilitation enclosure with its island of intact forest surrounded by chain linked fencing topped by solar-powered electric wire. The monkeys have adapted to their new, semi-natural environment well, spending all their time in the trees. They continue to receive prepared foods, but also supliment them with wild foods gathered from the trees. However, Sebastian, the alpha male of the group, developed a tolerance to the electric shock of the fence and climbed out to freedom. Actually, he was observed to have climbed back into the enclosure for food and then back out. After consulting with projects employing a similar system (we borrowed this system from the Belize Zoo) we discovered that occasionally, animals will tolerate the shock of electric fencing and escape. The spider monkey troupe is programmed to be transferred to an uninhabited island in the middle of Yaxha Lake, volunteers from the Amsterdam-based Ape Foundation helped in the transfer of the monkeys to the rehabilitation cage and their subsequent monitoring.
Since the first of the year, we have received 399 animals of 39 different species at the Rescue Center; compared with 345 for the entire year of 2000! The majority of these orphaned, injured, malnourished and dehydrated animals were seized from traffickers by police at roadblocks on the newly paved road from Peten to Guatemala City or at border crosspoints into MÈxico. Some were rescued from local markets or donated by concerned citizens who either bought or otherwise acquired them and donated them to the Rescue Center. Due to the abuses and stress of capture and transport, most of the animals we received were in bad shape and many never made it out quarantine. Some were received by us already dead, often with machete or gunshot wounds.
It is hard to interpret the rise in the number of animals received at the Rescue Center. On the one hand, it could mean that there is an increase in the numbers of animals being caught for the illegal pet trade. On the other, it could be a result of better enforcement on the part of the authorities. The Guatemalan Nature Protection Service, or SEPRONA - a branch of the Police established in 1999 - has been an effective force for conservation efforts throughout the country; a refreshing change in a government marred by inefficiency and corruption. Whatever the case, it is heartbreaking for staff and volunteers alike to see these animals suffer and often die at the Center, especially when we realize that there are so few of them left in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve.
MACAWS WITHOUT BORDERS
In 2000, a consortium of NGOs and GOs came together to form the Guacamayas Sin Frontera (Macaws Without Borders) Group with the aim of conserving the last wild populations of scarlet macaws in the Peten area. The group consists of ARCAS, the National Council of Protected Areas, ProPeten/Conservation International, Defensores de la Naturaleza (an NGO administering Sierra Lacondon), Aviarios Mariana (a private breeding facility) and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Recent USAID budget cuts in Peten have hurt efforts to expand this effort, but in a meeting the project was broadened to include counterpart organizations working in adjoining areas in MÈxico and Belize.
The Macaws Without Borders Group has adopted the following objectives:
1. To monitor and protect existing nests in the Laguna del Tigre area and prevent poaching and trafficking;
2. To reduce competition for nests by installing artificial nests;
3. To remove weaker chicks from wild nests, raise them with the use of puppets and artificial nests and then re-introduce them.
4. To initiate captive-breeding with the macaws in the ARCAS Rescue Center. The chicks will be raised in a way to avoid imprinting while also attempting to teach them what wild foods to eat. When full-grown they will be transferred into wild nests.
5. To conduct research on migratory patterns by fitting hand-reared birds that are incorporated into wild nests with radio collars.
6. To develop protocols and documentation for the management of nests and chicks and the introduction of chicks into wild nests.
7. To contribute to the conservation of the scarlet macaw though a long-term program of environmental education.
ARCAS's role within this cooperative effort is to carry out captive-breeding and rearing using the 24 non-releasable macaws in its Wild Animal Rescue Center and to collaborate in the re-inforcement of existing native populations with the introduction of hand-reared birds. It will offer logistical and technical assistance in the development of the project, rehabilitation of weak, injured or orphaned chicks, medical analyses and development of artificial nests. It will also sex birds, identify them with tattoos and microchips and when possible fit them with radio collars to facilitate post-release monitoring. Finally, ARCAS is responsible for carefully screening releaseable birds to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases into native populations, an important consideration in any re-introduction program.
One member of the Guacamayas Sin Fronteras Group estimates the remaining number of wild scarlet macaws in the tri-national area to be as low as 1,000!
EDUCATIONAL AND INTERPRETIVE CENTER
The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund is continuing to support the development of the ARCAS Environmental Education and Interpretation Center on the grounds of the Wild Animal Rescue Center. The Center will consist of several small, low-impact pavilions, workshop sites and interpretive trails on an area of the Rescue Center that includes a wetlands, a small forested peninsula and a commanding view of Lake Peten Itza. The Center will target local students and tourists and will include exhibits on the illegal pet trade, endangered species and the biodiversity of Peten.
To date, construction has been completed on the main exhibits pavilion, store, guardhouse, workshop area, visitorís dock and interpretive trail. The exhibits will attempt to be as interactive as possible, employing a range of artifacts, puzzles, games and audiovisual displays that will teach visitors not only about the biological and archeological riches of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve but also about the threats to these riches. The Illegal Pet Trade Exhibit will include non-releasable animals from the Rescue Center and will focus on the incredible wastefulness of this trade.
Biotopo HAWAII
SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION
The irregular weather patterns that have plagued the Hawaii area (and the world) in recent years have continued to disrupt the normal cycles of the local ecosystem as well as our conservation activities there. This year, the rains came late, starting in early September rather June, and the first crop of the year failed. Though there was no famine as in other parts of the country and Central AmÈrica, people were effected economically. In addition to a scarcity of terrestrial food sources, the Pacific coast was hit with an outbreak of red tide, affecting marine creatures and causing several mass die-offs of fish as well as economic hardship to fishermen and venders as demand and prices for seafood dropped.
So far, this year has not been a good one for our friends, the olive ridley sea turtles. As of September 1st, we have only been able to collect 4200 eggs, compared with an average of 5000 for other years. However, we are hoping that things pick up in September and October and that we meet our goal of 20,000 eggs for the year.
EL ROSARIO HATCHERY
In an attempt to encourage greater community participation among some of the more remote villages in which ARCAS works, ARCAS opened the El Rosario Community Hatchery. The Hatchery is located on the grounds of the El Rosario Elementary school in order to involve students in the collection of eggs and release of hatchlings and develop a sense of community pride in such conservation efforts.
In March, Colum Muccio represented ARCAS at the 21st Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology hosted by Drexel University in Philedelphia. The symposium focussed on the plight of the leatherback sea turtle, Pacific populations of which a recent study by Drexel shows to be in sharp decline. Researchers predict that the Pacific population will most likely drop past the point of return within 15 or 20 years if nothing is done to mitigate mortality of adults by Pacific tuna and swordfishing longline fisheries.
In the Hawaii area there have also been numerous dead turtles stranding on area shores, the result of drownings by shrimp trawlers working the near-shore waters of the area. In 1998, Guatemalan shrimpers, faced with a threatened US embargo, were obliged to install Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on their nets, but off-shore inspections are expensive and difficult (compounded by the piracy of shrimp from shrimp trawlers!) and it is widely recognized that the use of TEDs is generally flaunted. The killing of adult sea turtles is a particular waste given the fact that perhaps only one of every thousand hatchlings survive to adulthood and that an adult female can lay up to 300 eggs per season, a valuable source of protein and income for locals. ARCAS has worked with local egg collectors to express their indignation to the authorities about the drowning of adult sea turtles by shrimp trawlers.
PROTECTED AREA HAWAII
The Technical Study required by Guatemalan law for the declaration of the Hawaii Protected Area has been completed and is in the excruciatingly slow process of being approved by the National Council of Protected Areas. The study proposes the protection of roughly 3500 hectares of critically threatened mangrove forests and estuaries, habitat for spectacled caimans, shrimp, four-eyed fish, green iguanas and an astounding array of migratory birds. Pending approval of the Technical Study, a master plan will be drawn up and presented to the Guatemalan Congress for approval.
The protection of the mangroves of the Hawaii area is justified not only because they are habitat for endangered species but also because they provide the natural resource base for many of the extractive activities on which locals depend, such as shrimping, fishing and logging. In addition, together with the Monterrico Reserve and other remnants of the mangrove forests of the Pacific coast, they make up a very important biological corridor and possible RAMSAR wetlands site.
The Netherlands Committee of the IUCN is supporting ARCAS in setting up the initial infrastructure for this protected area as well as building community support for its establishment.
ARCAS has been taking part in the formulation of two proposed projects supported by the Dutch and Norwegian governments to protect areas of mangrove and coastal ecosystems along the Guatemalan pacific coast and El Salvador.
MANGROVE REFORESTATION
Together with local community organizations, ARCAS has organized reforestations in the mangroves of the Hawaii area, planting approximately 18,000 mangrove seedlings in 2000 and 2001. This activity, is crucial in not only maintaining the health of the local mangrove forests, but instilling in locals a sense of responsibility and stewardship for a resource that they all depend on for the roofs over their heads, among other things.
AWARENESS-RAISING CAMPAIGN
The US Fish and Wildlife Service supported an awareness-raising campaign carried out by ARCAS to discourage the consumption of sea turtle eggs. The campaign included newspaper articles, television appearances ??? and the production and distribution of posters and bumperstickers and was timed to coincide with the June ñ November sea turtle nesting season.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN HAWAII
Work has begun on the Hawaii Environmental Education and Interpretation Center, supported by the Guatemalan governmentís FONACON Fund. This Center will include a series of interactive exhibits on the grounds of the Hawaii Park dealing with themes such as the marine ecosystem, sea turtles and mangrove, as well as an acuatic interpretive trail and birdwatching blind.
As a part of its regular educational activities in Hawaii, ARCAS is carrying out eco-tours of under-priveledged and orphaned children from the Guatemala City area to the Hawaii Park. The eco-tours include nightly patrols in search of nesting sea turtles, presentations by ARCAS staff members on environmental themes, cook-outs, educational games and boat trips through the mangroves.
VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS
ARCAS's volunteer programs continue to expand and provide much needed self-generated funds for the long-term sustainability of its conservation activities. Since transferring to the new Rescue Center site, with its very comfortable and spacious volunteer house, the Peten program has been able to maintain an average of 12 volunteers at the Center, ranging from veterinary medicine or natural resource students seeking field experience, backpack tourists wishing to contribute their dollars to a good cause or Guatemala unversity students carrying out their practicum.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
ARCAS continues to be the only NGO offering environmental education in the Guatemala City area. The Environmental Education Department reaches out to over 7000 students of pre-school, primary and high school levels in the metropolitan area as well as the south coast. It also worked in the organization and implementation of eco-educational field-trips to Hawaii, beach clean-ups and teacher training workshops.
The Education Department has begun work with Becky Rose at the Columbus Zoo to develop "Hawaii A to Z", an environmental education coloring book about the Hawaii ecosystem, similar to "Peten A to Z" produced by Becky in 1994.
Julio Piedra Santa, a tireless promotor of the need to educate Guatemalan young people, a board member of ARCAS and owner of Piedra Santa Publishers produced "El Mangle", a very thorough interactive educational booklet on the importance of mangrove ecosystems. El Mangle is the second in the series "La Educacion es Divertidaî (Education is Fun), the first being on sea turtles.
21 Calle 9-44 "A" Zona 11 Mariscal
Guatemala, Guatemala
Intl Mail: Section 717, PO Box 52-7270
Miami, FL 33152-7270 USA
Ph/Fax:(502)476-6001
E-mail: arcas@intelnet.net.gt, arcaspeten@intelnet.net.gt