A historic event for the conservation of wildlife occurred in the Central Jungle. Two macheteros, the second largest rodent in South America and an emblematic species of the area, returned to the wild in the province of Chanchamayo, Junín region, after a careful recovery and adaptation process.
The specimens (father and son) were released in the Sacha Causay conservation concession, in the Perené district. The first had been rescued from illegal trafficking in 2020, while its calf was born and raised in captivity under strict protocols that allowed its natural behavior to be preserved.
The release was led by the conservation center “El Reino del Machetero”, becoming the first conservation center in the country to achieve the successful reintroduction of this species, in coordination with OSINFOR, the NGO Atiycuy Perú and local allies.
“The machetero never lost his wild instincts. He dug, marked territory and avoided human contact, that’s why we knew he could return to the forest,” explained Eduardo Rafael Jorge Valverde, head of the conservation center.
The release process began in the early morning, with a supervised transfer for several hours and a prior adaptation period in a pre-release enclosure, where the animals became familiar with the natural environment before their final return.
Specialists highlighted that this action will have a positive impact on the ecosystem, since the macheteros play a key role in the dispersal of seeds and regeneration of the forest, in addition to contributing to the increase in the wild population of the species.
After the release, the specimens have been monitored using camera traps, while the organizations involved reaffirmed their commitment to the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking and the recovery of threatened species in the Junín region.
