The sound of a purring puma...

The dry heights of the Bolivian altiplano slowly morph into an increasingly dense shade of green, the bus winds its way down a mountainside and the first sight of trees bring an indescribable joy to my heart as we enter rolling cloud forest and after a few hours more, descend into the lowlands - the mercury rising, humidity hitting your face like a warm soup, and palm trees beginning to dot the landscape... the Eastern-Bolivian jungle region... reminiscent of equatorial Africa, and home to a mind-boggling diversity of animal species, from jaguars to anacondas to sloths - an incredible wealth of biodiversity increasingly threatened by the encroachment of humanity from soy and sugar cane plantations, farm settlements, and hunting.

I find it very hard to fathom the arrogance of a person who desires a jaguar for a household pet, but they exist, and in huge numbers in Latin America. Pumas, ocelots and jaguars are hunted for the black market sale as fur, as pets, or to circuses and zoos, as are various species of monkeys and small animals who are also sold to medical laboratories for use as test animals - these small beings are sacrificed in the cruelest ways, not for the development of ground-breaking cancer or HIV treatments, but rather to test the potency of our household cleaners, cosmetics and toiletries.

I had arrived in the small village of Villa Tunari to visit the animal refuge of Inti Wara Yassi, sitting at the border of the jungle zones, and home to 1,200 animals brought here by owners who could no longer manage their jungle pet, rescued from cruel zoos, circuses or laboratories, or found abandoned. The refuge acts to rehabilitate as many animals as possible and release them back into the wild - usually a long and detailed process requiring a lot of time and resources - and acts completely without governmental support, run entirely from international donations and international volunteers, with a skeleton staff of four paid Bolivian vets and one manager. The conditions are basic and the work is carried out with a lot of creativity and compromise on a relatively small piece of land, largely owned by the local council. The local council's permission of land use comes with heavy strings attached - the refuge must be partially open to tourism, with the entrance fee charged being payable back to the local council. Very little support for the concept of wilderness exists here, and no enforced legislation for the protection of animals who are seen as another commodity with a surprisingly low monetary value (less than $20 for an ocelot?).

A care programme is designed for each animal that arrives at the refuge - some are very psychologically damaged from years of abuse and cruelty, others are malnutritioned from poor diets, or physically damaged from beatings given by human owners. On arrival, each animal is held under the supervision of the vets for 10 days to observe the behaviour, identify any psychological or physical problems and develop a plan for care, rehabilitation or enrichment. The monkeys are held in a quarantine area for a 60 day period to ensure that they carry no parasites that would infect the other animals and the refuge has very strict regulations for the prevention of spreading disease. As I walked around with onsite vet, Luis, taxi to a small spider monkey who had clambered onto my shoulders for a ride, he explained to me the slow and careful process of animal rehabilitation - beginning from rescue or delivery and, hopefully, ending with the careful release into wilderness (one of the country's national parks, or jungle area controlled by the organisation).

Three species of monkey live at the refuge - the small, shy and colourful Squirrel Monkey; the large, curious, and very "human" Spider Monkey and the rambunctious little Capuchin. Most of the monkeys were taken young from their mother and kept solitary for their confined lives (very unnatural for these social group-orientated beings), fed "human" food and, often, subject to horrible abuses. The rehabilitation process is begun from their period in quarantine where they are introduced to natural foods, to the jungle on daily walks and to contact with other monkeys. For some, this is a very frightening process and they cling to their human carers in terror - they are kept on leashes and the contact with the monkey groups is slowly increased until the monkey is accepted into, and accepts, the monkey group. The monkeys live together and are monitored until a natural group forms, with an alpha male and female, and the group is then weaned from human contact through a series of increasingly remote jungle areas, the last being restricted of all human sound and very minimal human exposure, until the correct governmental permissions are obtained for their release into the wild. Some monkeys have such severe psychological damage from human abuses that their behaviour is a danger to the other monkeys and these are kept in the quarantine area under a programme of enrichment where they are fed, walked and cared for by the volunteers and they can never be released, or even live free in the refuge's forests. This realisation, the severity of human induced harm to these small beings whose mannerisms and expressions are so wonderfully similar to our own was particularly painful for me - it is akin to abusing a child.

Sadly, the refuge's jaguars, ocelots and pumas are permanent residents - the method used for hunting them is to kill the parent and take the cubs - they therefore learn no hunting skills and would die in the wild. The cats are on a programme of "enrichment" where their lives are made as comfortable and "wild" as possible - they are walked for eight hours a day by two volunteers through the jungle on paths that are diversified as much as the small land space allows, they are kept solitary and on solitary paths and are fed fresh and raw meat, similar to their natural diet. The volunteers who work with the cats are generally long term volunteers, the human contact with the cats is kept to a minimum, and their night time cages are filled with bamboo, tree branches and items from the jungle for the cats to live in an environment as suitable to their nature as possible. With the assistance of a large donation from the English organisation, Quest, a second plot of land has been purchased in a more remote area of jungle near to Santa Cruz and Inti Wara Yassi plans to move all 27 cats to this new home in the next few years.

Birds and small animals have a much better chance of rehabilitation and release; unlike cats and monkeys they do not build as dependant relationships on humans and the rehabilitation time is only limited to their physicality, most of whom arrive at the refuge very malnutritioned. Bolivian jungles are home to the world's most beautiful species of birds - huge red, green and blue parrots and paraquets, toucans and macaws, and many others - they are usually hunted for sale as house pets, their wings are clipped, sometimes the bone is also cut, and they require nourishment and time to regrow, sometimes also requiring to be taught how to fly again. Birds caught from jungles are treated like cargo, transported in boxes without air, water or food - usually 80-100 birds per box, and 80 - 90% die during transport. This represents 20 birds killed for every bird bought on the market. Some birds have psychological problems meaning that they can't form groups and are cared for at the refuge, others cannot regrow their broken bones and are also cared for permanently here, under the enrichment programme. I was introduced to a pair of two beautiful red parrots, a couple, who remain at the refuge permanently because while the male partner can fly and, technically, is able to be released, his female partner is unable to fly and therefore he stays at the refuge with her - calling her loudly every time they are separated, even as they are just being brought out of their aviary for their daily walk along the tree branches. Perhaps the most beautiful love story?

The refuge was a heartwarming example of dedication to wilderness and to the rights of animals. It was also an example of the limitations of a country like Bolivia which lacks the resources, will, and interest in preserving wilderness. The rehabilitation process could be much improved if only the refuge had increased resources and its own plot of land where it could carry out its programmes without the impositions of the local council's desire for tourist dollars. Perhaps we need to reevaluate our own economic value system? It is only when we recognise the inherent value of wilderness, for wildernesses sake, and the value of biodiversity, that the monetary worth of an animal is higher in its natural jungle home than as decoration for the homes of the wealthy, or as entertainment in our zoos and circuses. The largest goal of Inti Wara Yassi is to no longer need to exist - through the education of Bolivians about the necessity of preserving wilderness and the place of animals in that. A goal that the world should also aspire to.