In November, Tamarin Trust, along with our colleagues, the Brazilian species conservation agency ICMBio, and Toledo Zoo, ran a workshop on the conservation and captive care of pied tamarins.

This incredible monkey is only found in and around the Amazonian city of Manaus. It is critically endangered, and many tamarins are living in tiny fragments of forest surrounded by the urban environment.  As a result, they are frequently injured or killed on the roads or on power lines, or attacked by dogs and cats. Many tamarins also end up in CETAS, the rescue centre in Manaus run by the government agency responsible for wildlife, IBAMA.

Rescue centres are on the front line in the fight to save species, and in Brazil, we are trying to make them essential partners in the conservation of threatened primates. Pied tamarins are unfortunately appearing in CETAS more and more often. Some of them arrive healthy, but many are suffering extreme stress or illness. They may have been rescued from forest patches that are due to be felled as the city continues to expand, confiscated from the pet trade, or have been brought in by members of the public. Keeping the tamarins in the best possible health when they come into captivity, even for a short period of time, is essential.

So the centre’s staff need a wide range of skills and expertise, and CETAS asked us to run a workshop focusing on primates, and particularly pied tamarins. Forty people attended, from NGOs, government agencies and universities, and we covered a wide range of topics, from the care of rescued tamarins to designing a specialist species centre that would act as a hub, coordinating the rescue, rehabilitation, and reintroduction and breeding of pied tamarins in Brazil.

We also visited areas where Marcelo Gordo from the Federal University of Amazonas has been planting trees to connect forest patches together, and building tamarin bridges so that the monkeys can safely cross the roads cutting through their habitat. Our next update will have more information on these fantastic projects. All in all, the workshop was very successful and shows what can be achieved if a group of people come together to work for the conservation of a species. Tamarin Trust has now been asked by ICMBio to follow it up with a workshop for all its 60 rescue centres within Brazil next year.