Meet Vejpa, a Cougar Who Survived Wildfires in the Bolivian Amazon
Last month we shared the wonderful news that Vejpa, a young puma, was rescued by Senda Verda Wildlife Sanctuary, the Bolivian refuge we're helping. Here's his story:
During the terrible August 2019 wildfires caused by deforestation in Bolivia, Vejpa was just a cub living in the wild with his mother. They were separated in an attempt to flee the wildfires and Vejpa found himself captured by a cattle farmer and confined to a very small cage for many months before the baby puma was rescued by the Environmental Direction of the Government of Beni, in Trinidad, the capital of this area in the Bolivian Amazonia.
The government called and told Senda Verde to prepare for the baby puma. All the protocols and authorizations were fulfilled, but for unknown reasons, the puma was never sent.
Then the pandemic happened and the Bolivian government, like many governments around the world, placed its citizens under quarantine. It's believed that from that point forward, Vejpa sat in the small cage in the parking lot of the Government office in El Beni, and due to lockdown, nobody feeding him, nor cleaning the small cage.
Finally, in May 2020, a member of the government office in El Beni was able to make contact with Senda Verde to notify them of the location of the puma. After a harrowing journey, Vejpa finally ended up arriving to Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary on May 29 at 11pm. Scroll down our feed to see that post! He was weak and thin and had not been out of his cage for many months.
As you can see by this recent image, Vejpa is now growing healthy and strong after just a couple of months in the loving care of the sanctuary rescue workers. While his story has a happy ending, many animals who flee from wildfires caused by deforestation aren't as lucky as Vejpa. In fact, animals fleeing from wildfires often run right into the arms of wildlife traffickers and are then sold at wet markets. This has been identified as the way covid-19 spread from animals to humans. When the animals of our planet are safer, we are safer!
