RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – In September 2024, Vida Livre Institute, a wildlife rescue center, received an unusual call from the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden staff. They were sending over two monkeys who were behaving strangely and had to be assessed by the Institute’s veterinarian. After running a few tests, the vet confirmed that the animals had been drugged in broad daylight, in one of Rio’s most popular green spaces.
This tactic is often employed by poachers to sell animals as pets in local markets or online. A quick search on Instagram reveals videos of monkeys dressed in diapers, showcasing the disturbing trend where animal suffering is masked by viral engagement. Fortunately, the two monkeys were rescued in time and rehabilitated.
WIth 10 years of existence, Vida Livre Institute has already helped over 13,000 animals, most of them species of the Atlantic Forest: anteaters, sloths, armadillos, monkeys, boas, several bird species, and even a puma. Mongabay followed the monkeys’ recovery and the vital work done by the center to provide Rio’s wildlife with a second chance at life.
Illegal wildlife trade ranks as the world’s fourth largest criminal enterprise, following drug trafficking, counterfeit goods, and human trafficking. Its consequences are extensive: it threatens biodiversity, it undermines governance, and it has significant economic repercussions. A World Bank study estimates that this trade could cost the global economy a staggering trillion dollars, with 90% of that loss attributed to the degradation of ecosystem services.
This documentary is the first episode of Wild Targets, a Mongabay video series that explores the cultural beliefs behind the pervasiveness of poaching, as well as the inspiring solutions and people aiming to combat the trade.
Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here!
Banner image: Armadillo at the Vida Livre Institute, wildlife rescue center. Image ©Rafael Bacelar.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
It can’t barely walk…
Poor thing.
One of my volunteers was monitoring these animals.
And she noticed that one of them wasn’t behaving very naturally.
So they rescued it, and when they were coming back, they found the other one…
And that’s when the alert went off.
And then we saw that they were really drugged.
With the neurological effect of the medication.
They [the criminals] offer this tranquilizer and the banana to the animals,
and this way they catch the animal and remove it from the botanical garden.
When they arrived, they were very uncoordinated,
and we offered them solid and hydrated fruit.
They were given glucose,
they were evaluated by the vet, they had their blood taken.
The Vida Livre Institute works on the rehabilitation and release of wild animals,
as well as on wildlife research and conservation projects.
Here, we look after several species from the Atlantic Forest,
from anteaters, sloths, armadillos, monkeys,
boas and toucans, which we can now hear singing.
And our effort is to reintroduce these animals to the wild.
I don’t think I’ve met it in person…
We’re taking care of this armadillo. The mother died.
It arrived with some blood stains
and some signs that it is a newborn.
It will stay a few months being fed with milk only.
In captivity it eats solid food before it would in nature
so that it doesn’t get too attached to us, right?
But it’s gaining weight, it’s responding really well.
The institute will be 10 years old next year,
and we have already looked after almost 13,000 animals.
We had many animals that were trafficked.
We received a puma that was seized in a favela.
We once had a sloth that was drugged like these little monkeys,
but imagine drugging a sloth.
It almost died.
We took care of a toucan that was a victim of wildlife trade,
and it lost its beak.
We developed a prosthetic beak for it, using 3D printing.
Brazil’s second name was Land of Parrots.
Before it became Brazil, this was the name the Portuguese gave to us,
because parrots were already a resource from our land,
which was already kidnapped from here to be sold in Europe.
And since then, Brazil has been living with this practice in a very natural way.
Our history was created based on overexploitation
of our greatest wealth, which is our biodiversity.
And today we are seeing the Land of Parrots
become the land of fire and scorched earth.
Today we don’t know how many animals are trafficked in Brazil.
It’s hard for us to direct efforts, to direct resources.
We are almost blindly fighting crime, the illicit market.
There are estimates that talk about millions of animals,
and I think that this level of magnitude is not far from reality.
You see that they get really nervous with our presence talking next to them.
While I’m talking to you, one of them is biting the wood out of nervousness.
We ran a few tests to be able to safely release them.
This part of the institute is where several animals are hospitalized.
The main focus of the wildlife trade here in the country
is the group of passerines, which are all birds, for singing.
When you think that most of the animals that are removed are the males,
this ends up impoverishing and weakening wild populations.
Wildlife trade has more impacts than people imagine.
So we have the impact on the individual, which suffers.
We lose pollinators, seed dispersers,
animals that have an ecological role in nature.
There is a study by the World Bank that talks about $1 trillion,
90% of which would come from the loss of ecosystem services.
We also end up having impacts on governance,
because wildlife trafficking can only exist
in conjunction with other crimes, such as fraud,
forgery, smuggling, criminal association, among others.
For us to effectively combat wildlife trafficking here in Brazil,
we first need to reduce demand.
People need to know what is behind that little animal being sold via WhatsApp.
But I think there is a crucial issue which is to work on the embarrassment,
the comprehension of a person who thinks it is an act of love to have a bird in a cage.
How could you wish to be loved in that way?
I would hate to be loved in a cage.
Changing this vision is a conscious and educational act of citizenship.
We also need to increase the number
of rehabilitation and triage centers for wild animals,
so they can have a second chance and return to fulfilling their ecological functions.
We are going to release [them] here at the botanical garden,
with their team.
I think this tree could be a good one for them to climb.
And we hope that they have luck and a good life in freedom.
I would love for the institute to be empty.
And to be only dedicated to talking about the Brazilian fauna,
about its beauty, being able to inspire people.
I understand that this is a work about freedom.
It is important to be free.
It is important to love freely,
it is important to pray freely,
It is important to think freely.
It is important to live freely.