refi

ighter

io the rescue

Support urged for Bolivian wildlife refuge

Michael Becker

ews Editor
michacl@nsnews.com

IT is not a place for the
squeamish.

The Inti Wara Yassi wildhte
refuge is located near tiny
village of Villa Tunari in the
Bolivian Amazon Basin. It's
crawling with large insects.
Tarantulas live there too.

A small group of volun-
teers, many of them from B.C.,
have made the South American
refuge a sanctuary for wild ani-
mals, The creatures — includ-

birds, deer, tur-

once lived in cages, on chains
or were confiscated from mar-
kets and animal dealers.

In the refuge they live part-
ly in freedom. Some of them
can return, after some time of
rehabilitation, to a free life in
the jungle.

North Vancouver City
Department firefighter Erik
Bjarnason recently returned
from a visit to the “refuge. He
would like more peuple to
know about it and perhaps
support the wildlife rchabilita-
tion effort.

Said Bjarnason, “It’s a
great idea, A lot of people get
these animals as pets. Monkeys
make great pets when they are
young, but as soon as they hit
sexual maturity they go
bananas. This was a place they
could take their pets and then
they could try to be re-intro-
duced into the wilds.”

It is also a place where ani-
mals are supported when they
are hurt.

The firefighter spent much
of his time with Gara, a big cat
rescued from an abused life as
a circus animal.

“What they had done is hit
. the back legs repeatedly co try

to teach it to jump through
hoops. By the time Inti Wara
Yassi got the cat it could bare-

ly walk so it had to be carried.

“Now it's sort of used to
humans. It had a good sense
of humor though. Every time
i took it for walks (on a rope)
it would go under legs. So 1
had te gece down ar my hands

sand crawl ofte

Wara Yasst. which
means sun, moon and rain, has
paisted for approximately eight
vears. It was founded by an
ecologically minded Bolivian.

The volunteers. are trying,
co raise Money to support the

mals and to purchase land
for the re .

“Hopetully they can get a
loz more land so they can have
more areas for the cats and
more areas for the monkeys,
said Bjarnason.

Squamish residents
Hopping and Doug V

SIFONg SUPPOrters of the pro-
je . Hopping spends ur te half
a vear ata time inci Wara
Yast and supports the venture
Anancially.
Woods ”
in South A

i Bjarnason
ica tee Hab
Aconcagua (22.835 fr.) in
Argentina. Ao storm) washed
away their plans so they spent
the time at the refuge.

¢ refuge doesn’t per
much support from its neigh-
bors

Said
Bolivia, especially
nothing ors Unless
there are pla ‘ this sup-
ported by outsiders, the ani-
mals would just be put to
sleep.”

To assist the project con-
tact’ Bjarnason at ebjarna-
son@city.nerth-van.be ca via
email.

Bjarnason, “For,
they have

Sunday. June 14, 1998 - North Shore News — 5

PO

|
| pasar

Event
June 16, 10am - 12:30pm

TOE Wie
ansions

165 PEMBERTON AVE, N. vAN
"985-0234.

Closed Mondays

Photo submitted

North Van City firefighter Erik Bjarnason recently
spent some time in Bolivia with Gata, a very big cat.

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Call

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VISITORS to the Inti Wara Yassi wildlife refuge in Bolivia are welcome to stay and
help out with the rescued animals.

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