Visiting The Jaguar Rescue Center

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Though the infamous Sloth Sanctuary is located an hour away from Puerto Viejo, there exists another animal sanctuary only a 10 minute bike ride from town. The Jaguar Rescue Center is a non-profit organization that takes in or rescues injured or abandoned wild animals and aids in their rehabilitation before releasing them back into the wild. They own a large natural reserve area (45 hectares) named La Cieba which is where all of the rescued animals are reintroduced into the wild once they are considered ready.

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Mac and I spent an afternoon at the Jaguar Rescue Center learning about all the different animals they rescue and how their organization works not only with aiding the animals but also with protection & prevention of injuries to the animals in the town.

The first mammals we saw were the jungle cats. A baby Oncilla that had just been rescued from the black market was one of the newest guests at the sanctuary. He was so adorable! Other cats present were a 6 month old (sleeping) Ocelot and a (similarly sleeping) Margay. The jungle cats are cared for by volunteers and have daily jungle walks in which they use the time to hone their feline instincts for hunting.

After the cats it was onto the monkeys! These little (and big!) guys were so hyper – swinging from rope to rope and jumping off the play structure onto the volunteers every other minute. The various types we saw were: howler monkeys, spider monkeys & capuchin monkeys.

In addition to mammals, we also saw quite a few reptiles. Cayman (similar to a crocodile) are quite popular in Costa Rica and quite a few were in the rescue center for rehabilitation. We also saw several snakes (I’m so thankful there was a glass barrier between us!) and learned about their defining features and how to identify the poisonous species. Some of the snakes at the rescue center are being used in an anti-venom program which has seen the number of deaths from snake bites drop from 75 to 10 in the past several years.

The birds were the calmer species of animals we encountered, but we soon found that each of them had their own unique story. Many birds that come to the centre are either abandoned by their mothers, or injured in the city while hunting for food. The latter is one of the projects that the Jaguar Rescue Centre is working on to prevent these sorts of injuries from occurring. Birds like hawks get tunnel vision when searching for food, and their main prey are rodents. In Puerto Viejo, the garbage is kept on the side of the road where it’s extremely easy for rodents to get to. Hawks are most often injured in the garbage pile by oncoming vehicles. The project at the rescue centre involves introducing raised garbage cages on the sides of the roads to prevent this kind of injury in the future. They’ve seen quite the success with it so far and are now looking at implementing it in surrounding towns.

And last but certainly not least, we saw the sloths. These “so ugly they’re kind of cute” didn’t do much other than sleep, and maybe move a fraction of an inch while we were watching. Some of the sloths at the center are there because their mothers abandoned them. Most of the time, the babies fall from the tree and the mothers don’t go down to get them. In this case, the center will often try to just hoist the baby sloth back up and often they’ll be reunited with their mothers. If that doesn’t work, the sloths will then be cared for at the center and eventually reintroduced into the wild.

I really loved the afternoon that we spend at the Rescue Center. I’m not a fan of zoos, but I was certainly on board with how things were run at the center. The animals are properly cared for and they have on-site vets there to attend to any needs. I love that the animals are eventually reintroduced to the wild once they are deemed ready. The animals that can’t return to the wild (many birds aren’t able to because of blindness or broken wings which makes them easy targets) are given the best care at the center and are still taken on daily jungle walks in the area. The center is comprised of a lot of volunteers and proceeds from the ticket sales and gift shop purchases go right back into the center to make it possible for them to keep operating. I’d highly recommend paying a visit if you’re in the area.

Cost: $18. Time: 1.5 hours for the tour + however long you wish to visit afterwards.