The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Marena) will administer from next November andhe Nicaraguan National Zoo, which for the last 25 years was run by the Friends of the Nicaraguan Zoo Foundation (Fazoonic). The information was released in a statement and in a video, published on social networks, by the directors of the civil organization, Marina Argüello and Eduardo Sacasa.
According to the couple,The administrative change was motivated by “health reasons” and it was a decision “very ours”.
They clarified that the government has not confiscated the place, as some local media have published, and rather, it has supported them through an annual budget item.
“We are concluding one of the most important stages of our lives. We leave the zoo with our heads held high, leaving a great legacy to the new generations, with a job of 25 years, where we give ourselves with all our affection, with all our love, giving the best we could to our fauna. We have fulfilled our Nicaragua, our environment and our mother earth”, said Sacasa, veterinarian and director of the Zoo.
Argüello assured that they will continue giving consultations and talks on wildlife, and thanked all Nicaraguans for their support during this time of work.
The National Zoo was born in 1978 as a private entity with the name of “banic park“”. ANDn 1979, with the Sandinista revolution, it became part of the State, although since 1997 it was in charge of Fazoonic. They house some 400 animals, about 90 species —lions, tigers, jaguars, tapirs, boas, crocodiles, peacocks—, according to various journalistic notes.
The Foundation has worked for the conservation, research and education of the fauna in Nicaragua through the zoo, the reproduction center and the rescue center, which has allowed the rehabilitation of several species, which have been reinserted into their natural habitat.
One of the zoo’s distinguished programs is the “Tapir project”, focused on the reproduction —in captivity— of this endangered species. From 2004 to last August, they have reproduced 25 tapirs, according to a note from the Efe agency. “There is no other country in the world that reproduces so many (tapirs) in captivity”Sacasa said on that occasion.
Photo: Taken from social networks
Tight budget
Each year the Foundation has worked on a shoestring budget to keep the zoo running. The budget allocation for this 2022 was 6,016,500, a conservative figure because annual operating expenses exceed 10,000,000 córdobas, Sacasa revealed to the newspaper La Prensa in 2020, when they sent an SOS to the population, so that it would not abandon them , and also were collaterally affected by the pandemicby not receiving the usual visits by the population.
The zoo carried out various activities with companies, organizations and foundations to encourage the population to visit and provide greater economic support for the conservation of the species, to whom they thanked.
The zoo does not extract species from their natural habitat but it does reproduce them. It also has the National Animal Rescue Center, which trains hundreds of animals every year. As well as performing dozens of releases in some of the best preserved nature reserves in the country.
According to a publication in La Prensa, between 2015 and February 2021, 7,386 animals were released from the rescue center, including birds, reptiles, monkeys, toucans, sloths, and other species.
