Baby
Tapir Rescue in Panama
Confiscating
a Baby Baird's Tapir from Trappers in Panama's Wild Darien Jungle
by Adrian Benedetti, Director, Summit Zoo, Panama
The
online internet ad for the tapir
In the jungle of Darien a baby female tapir of approximately
60-80 lbs. was captured. She is in good health. Those interested
must provide transportation out of Darien. Animal is currently
in the town of Boca del Tigre.
Price: $2,500 |
 |
Early December, 2005: Two
weeks earlier, when I originally was notified about the case, the
price was $1,000. I had no idea tapirs where in such high demand when
I first spoke with the middle man. We first talked when I was verifying
if this whole “sale” was true. It wasn’t hard to
get his personal information since the man had posted his name address
and cell phone number on the net. In the short conversation he informed
me that the tapir was in a distant location and needed to be transported
down the Chucunaque River. He said he first needed to contact his
brother in law in Darien in order to see which day he could obtain
a boat to travel down river. He would keep me posted.
 |
| Adrian Benedetti, Summit Zoo Director |
I really couldn’t get a read on the situation.
Either these guys were incredibly stupid or extremely confident
that no one was going to do anything. I mean here they were providing
all the necessary information for a conviction on the world wide
web. Now there are a couple of reasons I was notified and not the
national environmental authorities: I’m the director of the
national nature park which has an animal collection and the gentlemen
that notified me is a key advisor to the foundation in charge of
running it. The second was because it was a national holiday weekend,
hence all government agencies where closed. While passing as the
manager of a rich man’s private animal collection I had no
way knowing if these guys would realize I was lying or for that
matter of knowing whether they really had a tapir. Many here in
Panama mistake an owl for a Harpy Eagle, so you can imagine my level
skepticism and complete bewilderment.
While I waited to be contacted I talked to the local authorities
and some friends at the Houston Zoo about how to proceed. It was
decided that I had to go since I had already made the initial contact.
I would go along with the middle man, a vet (in order to insure
the immediate inspection of the animal) and undercover personnel
from National Environmental Service (ANAM). We would travel in an
unmarked car and arrest the men once the animal was safely in our
custody.
A week passed and I spoke to the middle man and he said it was on
for thee weekend. I called ANAM told them it was on for the weekend.
I called the middle man back to confirm. He told me it was off because
the canoe was going to used to transport agricultural products before
the dry season came in and the water levels in rivers started to
drop. I called ANAM and told them it was off.
At this point I was beginning to think they were on to me. Why on
earth would you put $2,500.00 on hold for crops? I thought for sure
that would be the last I would hear from them. That was a Friday.
On Tuesday of the next week I got a call saying it was on again
for that Sunday.
Come Friday morning I thought that everything was in place for Sunday.
ANAM informed me that they had the car and an undercover official
that would accompany me. I had the vet and about $500.00 just in
case.
Friday evening while I’m attending my brother’s high
school graduation party I got a call saying the car had broken down
and the official was nowhere to be found. Late Saturday morning
an apprentice vet, an ex Noriega body guard, the middle man and
my self where on our way to Darien in a rented car with the telephone
number for the ANAM Darien branch.
Since the confiscation I’ve been asked several times if these
men knew that what they were doing was illegal. I know for sure
the middle man did because he warned me several times that I would
need permits to get the tapir out of Darien since there are several
check points along the one road. By road I’m referring to
the Panamerican Highway that begins in Alaska stops in the Darien
and begins again in Colombia and goes all the way down South America.
These checkpoints are in place to check for the smuggling of contraband,
drugs, animals, wood, and people. I told him not to worry, it was
all taken care of; meanwhile I had no clue what we were going to
do.
We arrived in Meteti, Darien in the late afternoon and the plan
was for me to meet secretly with the local ANAM officials and plan
out the next day’s operation. After dinner the rest of the
party settled down o watch T.V. I excused myself by saying I needed
to call my boss. None of the public telephones worked and I had
no cell reception so I just walked down to the station I had seen
earlier when we drove through town. Once there we sat down planned
out the next morning. There were three players in this operation:
ANAM, the local police, and us. The reason for needing the police
was that ANAM did not have the training to carry out the arrest.
They were going to leave at 5 am to make sure they were there before
us. We would leave at 7 am, go straight to port, inspect the animal,
and put her safely in the car which was the signal for the police
to come out and make the arrests. Once arrested the detainees would
be transported to the ANAM station for processing and we would be
escorted out of Darien in order to avoid any problems with the checkpoints.
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| Baby Lucia, Darien, Panama ©
Adrian Benedetti |
I went back to the hotel a little nervous and sat down to watch
TV with the rest. The middle man never suspected a thing. They informed
me the hotel had Direct TV. I asked if I could change the channel.
There was a game I wanted to watch. I flipped a few channels and
relaxed a little watching the Denver Broncos play the Buffalo Bills
in the middle of Darien.
The next morning everything went just as planned. The ANAM personnel
told me it was the first animal trafficking arrest made since the
new law came into affect. The new law provided a basis for penalizing
offenders which includes jail time and fines. Before they would
only confiscate what ever the person was trafficking and let him
go.
Lucia, so named in honor of the person that originally found the
notice on the net, was a little malnourished and showed minor scrapes
and scratches form all the moving around. She has now gained 8 pounds
and her medical tests came out perfect. She is now the sixth member
of the tapir family at Summit Nature Park-Panama.
This is a perfect example of why it is so important to invest in
creating good zoos in developing countries. In these countries individuals
and well organized NGO’s can have a direct impact on what
is going on. These countries are both the battlegrounds and the
classrooms where quality information needs to be exchanged between
first class institutions, the public and policy makers. What was
done for Lucia is drop in the water compared to what could be done
generation after generation. Parks like the Summit Nature Park-Panama
will provide a space for that.
Adrian Benedetti
Director
Parque Natural Summit-Panama
Oficina (507) 232-4854
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