Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Refuge for Rescued Wild Animals

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 12 2009 (IPS) - An Argentine environmental group has proposed creating a Wild Animal Rescue Center in the central province of La Pampa for animals captured by hunters. “We want it to be a public entity with government participation, but also with professionals, universities, associations and foundations,” Leandro Altolaguirre, of the Alihuén Association of La Pampa, told Tierramérica.

Illegal hunting is “constantly” on the rise in his province due to the demand for furs, leather, feathers, trophy heads and meat, and in the past three years the police have conducted 500 seizures of illegally captured species, Altolaguirre said.

But those animals, if they are native to the area, have been immediately released. The proposal is to provide medical attention before releasing them, to prevent premature death caused by illness related to stress.