Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

Okay, really just one bear and though Santa Martha has lions, it doesn´t have any tigers at the moment. Still, bear was the theme for this week. The goal: rehab the bear enclosure. The bear looks cute and cuddly, standing about about five feet. However, looks are deceiving for sure. She easily reaches through the cage with long claws. Every morning we worked to fix her enclosure, she pulled on the rope of her trap cage, hoping to escape. Thankfully after she received breakfast at about 11am, she relaxed. The bear is destructive, but I think she really just needs lots of entertainment. When we started the rehab construction, her enclosure was littered with scraps of branches and planks of wood that she had torn apart. Her waterfall was kaput. A bad rain caused mud to block the flow of water at the source.

Everyday this week I worked on the enclosure. The main tasks involved finding and carrying large branches, macheting and sawing wood, and creating platforms for the bear. Seems simple, but the lack of tools meant lots of long hours. One day, two girls went under a man-made waterfall the fetch a large log. Along with some other volunteers, they hoisted the prized log up a huge steep incline of mud. Once on flat ground, I worked with four other volunteers to carry the log at least fifteen minutes down muddy stairs to the bear enclosure. That same day I found myself standing in a mesh of fallen trees and sticks chopping two large branches for the enclosure.



Another day I worked for five hours measuring, chopping and wiring branches to a corner of the enclosure to make a platform over the waterfall. When Thursday and Friday came around, I debated about choosing an easier task for the morning work. However, it was so nice to be in the sunshine of the bear enclosure and to feel a sense of accomplishment.



Yesterday before leaving for a weekend in Quito, we got news that the bear will go to a rehabilitation center in April. Hooray! If I recall correctly, it has taken almost a year to get the paperwork approved. The bear will get to use our enclosure for a month and then will be on her way to wild freedom. Who knows, within a month she might destroy all our hard work (though I hope not). Oh, and the waterfall is working now too!



Win for the week...Friday it didn´t rain at all for the whole work day!

Hasta Luego,

Becky