Peru's southern Amazon — the Madre de Dios region — is being lost faster than almost any equivalent rainforest on Earth. Illegal alluvial gold mining clears the forest, and the mercury used to bind the gold enters every river it touches. Animals that escape the bulldozers do not escape the water.
The problem
- Over 100,000 hectares of Peruvian rainforest have been cleared by illegal mining in the past 15 years.
- Substantial amounts of mercury enter the Madre de Dios watershed every year.
- Mercury bioaccumulates: river fish, then river otters, then capuchin monkeys and macaws drinking from clay licks all carry elevated levels.
- Scarlet macaws (Ara macao) and red-and-green macaws (Ara chloropterus) depend on Madre de Dios clay licks for essential minerals.
Why this region matters
Madre de Dios is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet — home to over 1,200 bird species, 200 mammal species, and a substantial share of the Amazon's macaw population. Losing it does not only harm the animals; it changes the ecology of the entire western Amazon basin.
What WARN is preparing to do
WARN's Peru programme will fund a forest sanctuary for primates and macaws confiscated from the pet trade, support training for officers on field-confiscation triage, and contribute to mercury-awareness work with riverside communities. We need supporter funding to begin.
We need your support to make this happen
World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work. We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now. Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.
Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation. You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.
