Animal Welfare Peru Project #8348

Protecting Jaguars and Biodiversity in the Amazon

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Aug 8, 2017
Strengthening Community Ties and The Parismina Beach Clean!

By Georgina Westwood | GVI Jalova, Volunteer Field Staff

GVI and the local fishing team!

Dear Supporters,

Working with the community is an incredibly important part of working in Jalova, Tortuguero National Park. The park itself is very important to Tortuguero town and the surrounding area, many people are employed in areas relating to protecting the Park or to tourism that the Park brings to the area. As such the community are generally aware of environmental issues and the importance of protected areas.

The park itself is very important to Tortuguero town and the surrounding area, many people are employed in areas relating to protecting the Park or to tourism that the Park brings to the area. As such the community are generally aware of environmental issues and the importance of protected areas.

We want to make sure that we do everything that we can to maintain this level of environmental awareness in the area, and also extend the knowledge and awareness that is already within the community. We also like to get involved with the community as much as possible to let them know about our presence in the Park and what work we are doing in the area.

Getting Involved at the Annual Event!

Therefore, this month we took all of our volunteers to visit Parismina for a beach clean at their annual fishing competition. Every year GVI volunteers and staff come together with the community for this event. It is an integral part of community life in Parismina and is well attended by members of the local community.

In the break of the fishing competition volunteers and the local fishermen worked together to clean the beach in Parismina. It was hard work as there was a lot of rubbish which had been washed up from the ocean, but working together made the task a lot easier! Everyone got involved in the clean and the beach was visibly cleaner afterwards. Everyone was surprised by the amount of rubbish we managed to collect over the course of the clean. We hope that it showed our volunteers and the locals how important it is to dispose of waste in the correct way, especially as it can wash up on beaches which are important to nesting marine turtles.

After the beach clean was completed we were able to provide the Parismina Fishing Team with video testimonials for their website showing how important our partnership with them is to us. All in all, it was a successful day and everyone had an enjoyable time.

Thank you for your continued support!

With Gratitude,
GVI Costa Rica

All the rubbish we collected

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May 24, 2017
Supporting Coastal Jaguar Conservation

By Cynthia Arochi | GVI Costa Rica, Country Director

CJC Training Session with volunteers

Dear Supporters,

We have recently made funding available, in the amount of £1250, to our local partners, the Coastal Jaguar Conservation (CJC). As CJC is a small organisation, the funds are supporting them to continue their invaluable research in the Tortuguero area. They are also very involved in the dissemination of information about jaguar conservation in Costa Rica.

The funds will be used to enhance the continuation of the jaguar research work done on the Southern side of Tortuguero National Park (TNP). This is a year long ongoing project with the following objectives:

To continue studying the relationship between prey-predation in the South of TNP.
To continue studying the unique behaviour of jaguar cubs in TNP (as they are displaying a different behaviour due to turtle presence).
To continue identifying DNA samples and heavy metals from Jag scats.
To continue creating a database on abundance and diversity on jaguar population (residents & migrants) in the South of TNP.

The jaguar population in the TNP seems to be stable and showing unique behaviours that only happen here, and in very few places, due to the turtle nesting. CJC aims to continue studying this unique behaviour, as well as cub behaviour, as there are a few now living in the area. There is still so much that we don't yet know about the jaguars in the area, so together with Panthera and the Univerity of Costa Rica, genetic tests are being done in order to determine genetic trends, feeding and now a new study on heavy metals, all make up the studies that we, in conjunction with CJC, wish to focus on this year.

Your donations are making it possible!

What we have done so far:

Training to new staff
Provision of equipment to re-start the project on the Southern side of TNP. This includes camera traps, batteries, GPS, field books and scent stations.
CJC hosted an in-depth training session to volunteers about jaguar research

We look forward to bringing you updates on our research in the coming months.

Thank you for your generosity and making this project possible.

With Gratitude,
GVI Costa Rica

Setting up some of the equipment

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Mar 3, 2017
Final reflections on our achievements for 2016

By Cynthia Arochi | GVI Costa Rica, Country Director

One of the turtle nests we studied

Dear Supporters,

Our base in Tortuguero National Park (TNP) re-opened in Janaury after being closed over December. We are getting back into the swing of things. We would like to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights of each of our projects that we ran in 2016.

The Sea Turtle Project

We have been working in pertnership with the Sea Turtle Conservancy for over 7 years now. Our turtle seasons run from March-May for Leatherbacks and June- November for Green Turtles. In 2016 we

worked 10 Leatherbacks and marked 7 nests
Worked 567 Green turtles and marked 60 nests
Worked 13 Hawksbill turtles and marked 6 nests

This was a successful year for the Jalova Turtle Project, having trained more than 13 staff throughout the season, and more than 17 volunteers specifically for the turtle project. Jalova, also broke records in the area, having managed to work 25 turtles in one night patrol. 2017 looks promising for the hub and its turtles, as the turtle numbers, training and protocols will be improved.

Jaguar Project

In conjunction with Coastal Jaguar Conservation we have been working to determine whether predation of marine turtles by jaguars is having an impact on the turtle population in the area. This predation is not a new phenomenon but it seems to be increasing over the past 10 year period. Through our research we also aim to estimate the minimum number of jaguars using the coastal habitat of TNP and identify the availability of prey species in the area.

Using a series of camera traps and patrols over 2016 we have substantially expanded the knowledge base for this relationship. We are starting to better understand their presence, abundance and habits.

Incidentals and Forest Biodiversity Project

In collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Education (MINAE) we have been documenting vertebrate species found on the southern tip of TNP. In 2016, we have been able to include 10 species that have not previously been seen in the area. The total number of species observed within this area since we began in 2010 is now at 462.

The Incidentals Project broadens the scope of our observations to include birds, reptiles and amphibians. We aim to construct a thorough species inventory for MINAE. We ensure that all of the volunteers are qualified to undertake the surveys, that they go out at different times of the day and to different areas. By doing so we can ensure that the data that we deliver to MINAE every 6 months is accuarte and reliable.

Bird Project

Also in collaboration with MINAE and with similar objectives- we aim to establish the species richness in the area. We have a special focus on 30 canal birds that are observed closest to our base. In 2016, we completed 119 surveys, recorded (visual or auditory) 1173 individual birds, a total of 64 different species. Of this, 24 were our target species.

We would like to thank you for your support of our work last year. We are looking forward to another succesful year in 2017!

With Gratitude,
GVI Costa Rica

Out on a biodiversity hike

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