The Air Group of the Casanare of the COLOMBIAN AIR FORC traveled 220 kilometersto transport animals of four different species of wildlife, to their natural habitat.
Air resources of the Air Force contribute to the protection of wildlife in eastern Colombia.
A Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft departed the Air Base of the Casanare Air Group, in Yopal, so the Colombian air Force took off with 250 kilograms of cargo, with the purpose of transporting 99 endemic animals of the Orinoquia, to their natural habitat in the municipality of La Primavera, department of Vichada.
Thanks to the inter-institutional work conducted by the Colombian Air Force, the Casanare Government and the Corporinoquía Wildlife Group, 90 charapa turtles, 6 white-faced monkeys, 2 maiceros monkeys and a female puma, who had suffered mistreatment due to the illegal trafficking of animals of wildlife and later rescued from captivity, were taken to a natural conservation reserve, in order to return them to their natural habitat.
Colonel Luis Miguel Díaz, Commander of the Casanare Air Group of the Colombian Air Force, did not hide his emotion and pride for the contribution of the institution to the protection of fauna in eastern Colombia. “It is a job that causes us a lot of satisfaction, that causes us a lot of joy, and we the Colombian Air Force, are always willing to do it, in order to be able to preserve the life of these animals, which are threatened, for our generations of the future”, the officer said.
The released animals passed through various processes of recovery, thanks to the work carried out by an interdisciplinary team made up of biologists and veterinarians of Corporinoquía, who were responsible for ensuring the well-being of these animals, until the arrival of the appropriate time for release, in the Hato San Jose, an area of 1,400 hectares of conservation which covers all the ecosystems of the Orinoco in Vichada.
The veterinary of Corporinoquía and Professional in Wildlife, Álvaro Enrique Camacho Cardona, revealed details of the meaning for the country's ecosystem, of a release of fauna such as this: “today, after a process of medical rehabilitation and behavioral and nutritional process, these animals can return to their habitat, after having suffered the problem of illegal traffic”.
Source: press-Colombian Air Force