{"id":279,"date":"2022-09-27T13:25:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T13:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.soazara.org\/?page_id=279"},"modified":"2022-10-26T08:50:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T08:50:35","slug":"what-we-do-animals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.soazara.org\/en\/what-we-do-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"What we do – Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span> Animals<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/span> <\/span><\/h1><\/div>
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In 2017, Soa Zara signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to work together to protect biodiversity in our region. It allows Soa Zara to protect watercourses from clearing for plantations and illegal logging, replant endemic tree species and establish a home for animals confiscated by the ministry.<\/p>\n

In its shelter Soa Zara is caring for 13 Lemur Catta (ring-tailed lemurs). 12 of the animals have been confiscated by the authorities because they were kept as pets or offered for sale. The 14th Lemur Catta was born in the shelter on 24 December 2021.<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Oftentimes, lemurs are injured or even die during their capture or transportation due to being without food and water for several days and being attached to other rival lemurs. The dead and injured lemurs are either thrown away or sold as bushmeat.<\/p>\n

The domesticated lemurs are generally unharmed but malnourished, having been forced to eat anything given to them (usually leftovers such as bread, cooked rice, and vegetables) and have lost the ability to recognize and locate food , which they should eat in nature.<\/p>\n

After the lemurs’ injuries are treated, they enter a rehabilitation program.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

There the lemurs are accustomed to the lifelike diet and new family groups are formed. Soa Zara will take care of them until the ministry finds a suitable habitat and they can be released back into the wild.<\/p>\n

The care of the lemurs is expensive and there are few institutions in the world with greater experience in the care for this endangered species.<\/div>\n
For this reason an initiative was started in the Netherlands on 4 October 2022 to use the network of Veterinarians Without Borders Association to find people with an interest or working in animal care to set up and finance a reference center in Ranohira. Once set up, the center could also be used for internships and to train veterinarian students.<\/div>\n<\/div>