Meet the Animals of the Animal Rescue Center in Costa Rica

Greenheart Travel’s volunteer project in Costa Rica gives participants a chance to help animals in the area that have been abandoned, injured or rescued. Meet a few of the recent additions to the Animal Rescue Center and learn how you can help them make it back into the wild.

Meet Memo…

Memo is a howler monkey found abandoned near a river a few kilometers away from the animal rescue center. Tour guides saw him on the ground assuming the baby fell from a tree. Despite attempts to assimilate Memo into another troop of the same species, the adult males of the troop were a threat to his life and he was brought to the project for rehabilitation. Now almost 10 months old, he is awaiting a newly built cage with the help of volunteers to offer shelter until he can be released back into the wild.

Introducing Mrs. Piggy…

Mrs. Piggy is a collared peccary found abandoned with her umbilical cord still attached! It is common for locals to hunt these animals, despite the laws against their poaching and staff members believe that the mother was probably killed by a hunter and Mrs. Piggy was left behind as an orphan. Everyday, volunteers and staff members take her for a walk and have noticed that she loves to exercise. Watch her in action on our video. Mrs. Piggy will need help from volunteers in building a new home as she grows until she can return to the forest.

Meet Diego…

Diego is a baby three-toed sloth found abandoned in the forest. Many babies like Diego have suffered the loss of their mothers because of deforestation in the area, and because sloths are cared for by their mothers for almost the entire first year of their lives, the Animal Rescue Center is a safe haven for these orphans. Diego has been cared for by the staff at the Center and is now living in the forest as of a week ago! But for new babies that need love, safety and shelter, this project is helping them have a chance at survival.

Here are just a few ways your program fee is helping orphaned babies, like the ones featured above, make it back into the wild.

Contributions to the project help in funding purchases like:

• Electrical thermal blankets for babies to keep warm
• Teddy bear-sized stuffed animals to simulate a mother’s physical connection
• Stethoscopes to monitor heartbeat and breathing of the babies
• Thermometers
• Bottles for feeding
• An emergency room for the animals in need
• Shelters for newly rescued animals

Read more about our participants’ adventures at the Animal Rescue Center and check out their blog posts!