CHANCE FOR FREEDOM: HELP SAVE RESCUED WILDLIFE IN THE AMAZON

Bolivia’s Wildlife Is at Risk! Help Us Raise $40,000 to Continue Our Work At ONCA Wildlife Rescue Center, we’re on a mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and release Bolivia’s incredible wildlife back into the wild. But to make this happen, we need your support. Our goal is to raise $40,000 to fund four critical projects that will improve the lives of the animals in our care and ensure a sustainable future for wildlife conservation in Bolivia.

Here’s how your donations will make a difference:

A Bigger Home for Khali the Jaguar

Khali, our rescued jaguar, can’t be transferred to a wildlife project in Argentina due to government restrictions. Before she can even be considered for release, we need to prove that we can successfully release smaller cats like Choti the ocelot and Cefira the margay.

In the meantime, Khali may need to stay with us for a long time. To give her the space she deserves, we’re planning to expand her enclosure from 12x12 meters to 20x20 meters. This will provide her with a more comfortable, enriched environment while we work toward releasing her in the future.

Project Cost: $20,000

Releasing Choti the Ocelot into the Wild

Choti, our ocelot, has been under rehabilitation for several years, preparing for his release back into the wild. Over the past two years, we’ve used camera traps to survey the area where he will be released. This extensive research allowed us to ensure that the area has a healthy prey population for him to hunt, potential mates so that he can reproduce, and minimal conflict with other males, reducing the risk of intraspecific challenges.

To take the final step in Choti’s journey, we need to fit him with a GPS collar, which will allow us to conduct Bolivia’s first-ever post-release tracking for an ocelot. This monitoring is crucial for understanding how reintroduced animals adapt to the wild and will provide valuable insights into ocelot behavior in their natural habitat. With the GPS collar, we’ll be able to track Choti’s movements, observe his integration into the ecosystem, and offer post-release support if needed.

We are also considering constructing a temporary soft-release cage to help Choti transition smoothly back into the wild. While the release site is still under assessment, we will need the panels for this or future rescue projects to ensure the safety and smooth integration of the animals. After Choti’s release, Cefira the margay will be the next animal we prepare for release, continuing our efforts to restore Bolivia’s wildlife.

Project Cost: $3,500 (GPS collar: $2,000 | Temporary panels: $1,500)

New Spider Monkey Area

We are nearing completion of a new primary forest area for the spider monkeys, where they will have access to fruit trees and the proper environment to complete their rehabilitation. We’ve already built a 6x4 meter, 4-meter-high cage for them and are working on a second, larger one (6x6 meters) along with an office and kitchen to store materials and food.

Unfortunately, we’ve run out of funds, and we need $1,000 to finish the second cage and the facility, so the spider monkeys can fully transition back into their natural habitat.

Project Cost: $1,000

How You Can Help

In the last 12 years, since I arrived at ONCA’s land, there were no animals at all to see. Today, thanks to relentless effort, you can witness the rebirth of nature. A whole group of capuchin and squirrel monkeys are now self-sustaining, and we’re almost done with rehabilitating the spider monkeys. It’s been a hell of heaven work, and now more than ever, we need your support.

Right now, we are in a really precarious situation. As the crisis in Bolivia worsens, prices are rising fast. Where we used to spend around $2,750 per month last year, we now face costs of almost $4,000 per month. We used to be able to cover these costs with the contributions of volunteers, who paid $10 per day. On average, we needed 9 to 10 volunteers each month to cover the expenses. This wasn’t always possible, but we were saved by regular donations from amazing supporters like you—and sometimes, my family had to step in to help.

Now, there are no more volunteers coming, and most of our current team are old staff volunteers who do not pay to stay. This means almost all the money for the center has to come from my family, and we simply won’t be able to sustain the center this way.

We currently have veterinarians and biologists working as volunteers, but to provide continuous, high-quality care, we need to transition them to permanent staff with salaries. Along with paying fair wages to our local staff, like Mario from the Takana Indigenous community and our first Bolivian staff members, Mijail and Damaris, we’re working hard to involve and empower local people in the conservation efforts. We need more monthly donors to help cover these rising costs and keep the project going.

With $15,500 remaining from this fundraiser, we can cover about 4 months of our monthly operating costs, but we need more consistent support to sustain the center long-term.

At ONCA, we don’t believe in charging huge amounts of money for volunteering, as many other rescue centers around the world do. Our goal is to give everyone the opportunity to witness and learn about animal rehabilitation, making our project accessible to people from diverse and intercultural backgrounds. Through the years, this philosophy has helped us create an inclusive, supportive family at ONCA.

Now more than ever, we urgently need your support. Please spread the word so more volunteers can join us here at the center and continue to make a difference for Bolivia’s wildlife.

WE NEED URGENT HELP! THANK YOU SO MUCH FROM ALL THE ANIMALS IN THE JUNGLE!