Volunteer at Zoorefugio Tarqui in Ecuador

What position do you hold at Zoologico Tarqui? What has been your career path so far?

Fanny: My name is Fanny Bonilla and my husband is William López. We both are the owners of the Tarqui Zoo, where we look after it and its proper operation. Between us two, we organize and supervise the coordination of all the zoo’s areas: nutrition, quarantine and clinic, environmental enrichment, forestation, construction, maintenance, education and investigation.

At the moment, I dedicate myself to the zoo full time. But my husband has to spend some time
working as an electrician. This is very important, because it represents an economic resource
that makes it possible for the zoo to carry on. It covers a big amount of the zoo's expenses: food,
medications, improvements, expansions and upgrades of the enclosures, and also the wages
of the zoo workers.

What led you to join Zoologico Tarqui?

Fanny: My husband and I love animals. For that reason, we decided to dedicate our lives to look after the wildlife eight years ago, motivated also by the high level of illegal wildlife traffic that we have in our Amazonian region. This motivation founded what today is Tarqui Zoo. These eight years of
work with and for the wildlife have been full of happiness for being able to help those helpless and homeless animals.

At Tarqui Zoo, we give the best of ourselves to the animals that have been taken away from
their habitats with cruelty and abused after that. Our aim is to offer them a higher quality of life,
considering the different circumstances of every individual and trying to adapt to them. However,
our work would be incomplete without the help of the volunteers who collaborate with us because of their own love for the animals.

What is your favorite story of a volunteer's experience at Zoologico Tarqui?

Fanny: One year ago, a Swedish volunteer named Annie arrived with the intention of spending 6 weeks at the zoo. The second week after she arrived, one man gave to the zoo two bush dogs in very bad condition. It seems that the man had had the dogs in his house but realized that he couldn’t hold them and decided to donate them. One of them died the day after it arrived, but the other
one was adopted by Annie. The girl used a scarf to keep the dog close to her own body and use
her body heat to keep him alive. At the same time, she made sure that the dog was getting a proper diet
and the medications that he needed. At that moment in time, she was the only volunteer, and
the zoo only had one stable worker, so it would have been impossible to save the bush dog’s life
if it hadn’t been for Annie’s extreme love and dedication. This is my favorite story because Pumpkin (the bush dog) is a very special dog and a truly beloved member of the family.

What do you most enjoy about your position at Zoologico Tarqui?

Fanny: I really like helping the animals. Sometimes, we receive animals that are in appalling shape. It is extremely rewarding to see how they improve little by little while we look after them through a special diet, the required medications and lots of love. Also, we have had the
opportunity to release some animals that were able to go back to the wild where they belong. The
happiness and the satisfaction of those moments are a reward for the hard work, and allow me to
feel that my work is useful.

What do see in Zoologico Tarqui's future in the next 5 years? 10 years?

Fanny: At the moment, Tarqui Zoo has an area of 2 hectares, and we are thinking of getting up to 100 hectares to be able to provide the animals with a more complete rehabilitation. Also, this will make it easier to release animals which qualify into the wild. Secondly, we would like to have a complete database with information on all the species, including their feeding protocols, their reproductive systems and their behavior. Such a database would support our educational and research work, and it would serve as a training resource for the zoo volunteers. It would make it easier for them to jump into the daily tasks of care and observation of the animals if they could count on a solid knowledge of all the species. Lastly, we hope to be able to count on the assistance of at least 10 volunteers at a time, to streamline the work at the zoo.