It was a great honour for Tamarin Trust to be invited by IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, to participate in its National Rescue Centre Conference in Brasília in August. Our invitation came through Taiana Beskov Barros, a coordinator and analyst for rescue centres, who attended the workshop we ran in Manaus last November and invited us to deliver a series of lectures and workshops focused on animal care and rehabilitation.

Rescue centres are poised to become essential triage hubs. As more species are left in isolated forest fragments, some form of active management will be necessary to ensure their survival. Genetic diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. During the conference, we discussed the potential for rescue centres to play a bigger role in long-term recovery plans for fragmented populations. This includes developing skills for rehabilitation, reintroduction, and remote management to collect data both in captivity and in the wild—all while minimising stress to the animals.

Although Tamarin Trust’s primary focus is on marmosets and tamarins, animal husbandry colleagues from Jersey and the UK also volunteered their time and gave lectures on bird husbandry, veterinary protocols for quarantine, and the basics of reptile care.  We specifically addressed the issue of stress in captivity and how to mitigate it. Our team of four professionals gave a series of lectures followed by a detailed session on enclosure design.

It was wonderful to reconnect with familiar faces and meet many new ones. Being part of this event was a perfect opportunity to discuss husbandry issues with all the centres in Brazil. I firmly believe that rescue centres play a crucial role in species recovery across Brazil, and that this will only increase in the future. Their growing expertise and specialisation—particularly with specific taxa—will be vital for the survival of many species in habitats that have been fragmented due to agriculture and urban expansion.

It was also great to meet the President of the IBAMA Institute, Rodrigo Agostinho and discuss species conservation plans and integration of rescue centres into action plans for critical species.

Video link to interview with Rodrigo Agostinho: