CONTRIBUTION
Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) has been engaged in the fight against wildlife trafficking for over thirty years. The Community manages three nature parks ranging over 1,300 hectares of Bolivia’s Amazon rainforest, where it rehabilitates, cures and cares for animals rescued from illegal trafficking by international criminal networks that capture, sell and slaughter endangered species. As part of its mission, it works with both scientists and local communities, recruiting volunteers and organizing education programs. It is for these labors of rescue and care that the organization has been recognized with the Award for Biodiversity Conservation in Latin America.
Millions of animals fall victim to illegal trafficking each and every year, with most of this number taken from habitats like rainforest, mangrove forest or savanna. In South America, one of the world regions where trafficking is most rife, the Amazon rainforest is a particular black spot. The criminal organizations engaging in the trade capture snakes, birds, caymans, primates and, the most prized of all, big cats like the jaguar. Trafficked specimens sell for large sums of money and end up as caged animals in zoos, circuses or private homes, or else are killed to make items of clothing, ornaments, food dishes or cosmetics.
For decades, non-profit organizations and individuals concerned about this scourge have been running rescue and care campaigns. In the Bolivian Amazon this task has fallen to Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY), which has been waging a daily battle since 1992 against the illegal trafficking of wildlife. Among its chief resources in this struggle is the 1,300 hectares of Amazonian forest which the organization preserves and protects as a sanctuary for rehabilitating animals that have suffered trafficking. It is for these labors of rescue and care that the Community has been distinguished in the Latin America category of the 19th BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation. As well as “protecting Bolivia’s ecosystem and wildlife from threats such as wildfires, poaching, logging and illegal mining,” in the words of the award citation, CIWY has rested its conservation efforts on its “partnership with the scientific community.”
The organization’s president and founder is Tania Baltazar, though she prefers to be known by her nickname Nena. In the late 1980s, during the first year of her biology degree, she rescued a spider monkey that was being mistreated. She took the animal home, where it stayed until her mother issued an ultimatum: “She said either the monkey goes or you both go,” Nena recalls today, reflecting on what would be the first case out of thousands. “So I left my mother’s house because I couldn’t leave that poor monkey out in the street. I looked after her for months and tried to put her in a zoo, but I couldn’t do it; I knew it wasn’t a good place for her. So I decided to find my own space where I could take care of her.” And find it she did; her first sanctuary, Parque Machía. Founded in 1996, it became Bolivia’s first ever wildlife shelter, with a total of five monkeys. Today it is home to over 400 animals of twenty different species, and has been joined by two more protected areas: Jacj Cuisi and Ambue Ari.
Sadly, almost half the land in this last park suffered severely in the wildfires that razed a large area of forest in the region in the second half of 2024. It was while she was there helping fight the fires that Nena heard the news of the BBVA Foundation award: “After more than two months trying to keep them at bay, the fires finally reached the sanctuary. It was a tragic sight, many, many animals, thousands, dead from burns or smoke inhalation.” That, she continued, is why this award “is something very special. It gives us the energy to go on fighting and the resources to be able to move forward in our mission to care for wildlife. With the funds, we can buy more hectares of forest to expand what we have and give more land to the animals.”
Land is CIWY’s principal asset: an area of 13 million square meters devoted in its entirety to the care and rehabilitation of the hundreds of animals of almost forty species that they have saved from trafficking and mistreatment. “It’s a really big problem,” Nena insists, “and we are battling a threat that is greater than fire. In Bolivia we have laws that protect wildlife, but unfortunately these laws are not always enforced and wildlife trafficking is growing year by year.”
Usually it is the authorities that step in to rescue animals or sometimes members of CIWY. “When a new animal comes in,” its president explains, ”it is assessed by our team of veterinarians and biologists. It is important to consider the precise species and its original habitat. Most arrive with physical or psychological problems, at times irreversible. Depending on their origin and condition, they are treated, rehabilitated and released. If they have not been imprinted, i.e., become accustomed to humans, they can be returned to the wild. But not all of them are so lucky. Most stay with us, and are taken to our sanctuaries where they remain, sometimes for life.”
Each park, says Nena, has its own permanent staff: “A director, a veterinary team, biologists, a set of area coordinators. And for the rest we have volunteers. In reality, the three sanctuaries couldn’t be run without the support of volunteers. They help in whatever way they can, by putting in money or effort, giving up their time. It’s neither easy nor cheap to maintain a jaguar, for instance. We now have four and the cost allocation is pretty high. From the outset, we have set up animal sponsor and partner schemes, as well as organizing donation drives and other campaigns to raise the funds we need. And of course the people who work with me are very committed. The people here do what they do out of passion, out of love for these poor animals.”
Tania Baltazar points out that the black market in animals is the third largest crime business in all of South America, behind only drugs and human trafficking. And the best way to tackle it is through a three-way strategy of control, sanctions and education. It is in this third strand that CIWY intervenes directly through its environmental education programs. Education has been central to its work since its beginnings back in 1992, and it is now rolling out a “Guardians of the Forest” project to get children to engage with conservation work. “Our main focus – Baltazar explains – is on schools in the communities around our three wildlife sanctuaries. We take the same volunteers to conduct different workshops. The idea is to show the children the animals, so they get to know them, and understand their role. We then teach them to take care of those animals, because you can’t protect what you don’t know. We work with these young people and in fact that’s where many of the current CIWY team emerged from. We have young people who have been with us since they were kids and are now part of the staff.”
CIWY considers research a priority area since most of its conservation actions rely heavily on science: “We are involved in multiple research projects, because it’s important that we can scientifically demonstrate the need to give animals protection and care.” They work with most Bolivian universities, carrying out joint studies into the behavior of jaguars or wild bees: “Besides that – the president adds – we have agreements in place with veterinary faculties to train later-stage undergraduates in the handling of wild animals.”
Over the past 30 years, the Community has released thousands of rehabilitated animals into the wild and provided lifelong sanctuary to the rest. Indeed the extensive experience it has amassed in the specialized care of rescued wildlife, especially primates and felines, has made CIWY a reference in its field. So much so, they say, that other organizations and government agencies seek their advice on how to provide these animals with proper care.