Herpetology Conservation

Our volunteers in the herpetological program are very important in the project progress. We require people who mainly have a deep interest in reptiles, no previous studies are required, the common quality should be to love night and daily walkings to find species in the wild and to tracking them.

The project

The general problem that exists in this area of ​​the Amazon is the uncontrolled use of natural resources by unscrupulous people, which causes many losses of wildlife. Reptiles, specially snakes, that come to our center were rescued from illegal traffic or hunting.

Volunteer work

The herpetological program includes the following activities in general:

• Support in reptile's rescue process traveling with the staff to the places where wild animals are confiscated for illegal traffic or because they have them as pets.
• Support in reptile's rehabilitation, cleaning of each area, preparation of food and delivery of food. 
• Help in the implementation of tracking devices for the conservation program.
• Gathering of natural food for the rescued animals.
• Monitor and track the release species. 

The volunteers must be mainly responsible, the work we do is very delicate, since we work with the lives of vulnerable species; it is very important for us that the volunteers has passion for their work and they have to be very observant, and can contribute ideas and improvements in the care process. All ideas and improvements that can be implemented will be taken into account and welcome. What we want is forming a team in which all volunteers from different countries leave a positive mark on the project with ideas and improvements, they will see in the future through the social networks that they contributed to the growth of the project.

What you can expect

Volunteers can be sure that the facilities where they spend their days are comfortable and is a quiet environment, which allows them to work during the day and relax or do research at night. Our team is very united, we are a young organization that has grown little by little during the last 8 years, bringing together people who love what they do and contribute ideas, whose main objective is the welfare of the animals in custody. In this project your ideas will always be welcome.

The staff of RAREC speak English and Spanish. In our team we have specialists in rescues, rehabilitation and medical treatments, they live in RAREC and they will be in charge of designating the tasks and supporting volunteers in all the activities or doubts they may have. The project directors also live in RAREC and we are attentive to all the needs of the volunteers and we will collect all the information they can give us so that their work and findings will be part of the database and protocols of the project. On the other hand volunteers will work with veterinarians and biologists in charge of primates, manatees, and others, they make their follow-up visits once a week or come in emergencies. 

We give to each volunteer RAREC t-shirts and rain boots. It is important that they bring comfortable and fresh clothes, sneakers, sandals, hats and also long-sleeved shirts and pants to avoid bugs at night.

A typical day for a volunteer begins at 7 am with breakfast. The first task of all, is the preparation of food for the reptiles assigned and then take them to their respective areas, this task is usually done in pairs to also clean the area where the food is left. 

Subsequently, the tracking is carried out, also the administration of medications in the case animals are assigned in clinic or quarantine. 

In the evening the team get prepare to night walkins to observe and tracking reptiles.

Apart from this, volunteers can have other tasks that arise from observing the behavior of reptiles, or perform manual tasks implementing new ways to improve the areas of reptiles in rehabilitation, etc.

On the days that we have rescues, the tasks will be reassigned so that a group can go out to the rescue area, always led by our staff.

Also, the participants of this program can participate somedays in the Wildlife Animal Caretaker Program, the schedule of that progam is from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., also when the volunteers wish, they can take days off for tours, they should only tell us to schedule the tasks in advance.

We have a recreation room with movie projector, wifi, board games and hammocks to relax. Within RAREC you can hike to the creek at the end of the land or to a big lagoon where the amazonian manatees live, where you can swim, in the whole way you can observe wildlife in freedom. You can also do sport fishing.

We include boat ride on the Amazon River or float down in inner tubes on the Itaya River in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, for the volunteers who stay at least a week, this activity is usually done on Sundays.

Our road connection allows us to reach any tourist place in the Region, for example the Pacaya Samiria reserve is 4 hours from RAREC by road and by river.