On the surface, La Marina Zoo is like many other rehab facilities, but a tour by Juan Jose Rojas Alfaro, the director, reveals a level of intricacy belying its humble appearance. Juan Jose took up the reins as the head of this facility inheriting it from his mother and currently operating it with his wife, son and two daughters. The family has a strong vision of what form conservation efforts in this region should take. So far, La Marina has released over 200 deer, dozens of parrots, as well as several Baird’s tapirs into the protected jungle adjacent to the zoo.

La Marina Zoo is one the few Costa Rican facilities registered in the Latin American Zoo Liaison Program. By doing so, La Marina has committed themselves to open dialog between North American Zoos and their own organization through Project Green Jungle and the Zoological Association of America.

John Wortman of CCTU (Center for the Conservation of Tropical Ungulates), and the ZAA (Zoo Association of America), recently visited Costa Rica on a whirlwind tour of some of the country’s zoos, rehab centers, and sanctuaries as organized by Project Green Jungle. One of the final stops was an introduction of John to Juan at the La Marina Zoo site near La Fortuna in the central highlands northwest of the capitol San José. A tour of the public footpaths yielded encounters with white-tailed deer, pacas, and agoutis as they are allowed to freely roam the grounds This is one of the methods used by Jose to re-introduce some of these creatures into the wild.

The well-landscaped gardens, with their tasteful array of indigenous plants and flowers, are peppered with perches and tree branches carefully arranged for the aviary set. Open feeders encourage local wild birds to feed in front of the zoo’s visitors. Military, macaws, scarlet macaws, amazon parrots, and conures are regulars to this local eatery. Several feeding trees are arranged in the backyard of Juan Jose’s own house, where many of the birds have their own residencies inside enclosures with wide open doors. This is a sight not often seen in North America. Juan Jose says that these parrots are free to come and go as they please, and the enclosures provide protection at night.

The passion of Juan Jose’s family is shown most prominently in the careful maintenance of their facilities. Not one dirty enclosure, unfed or unwatered animal is to be found anywhere at this zoo. Also housed at this location are are spider monkeys, caimans, American crocodiles, peccaries, jaguars, margays, jaguarundies, a 21-year-old king vulture, and many others ‘just passing through.’

One particular point of pride for the La Marina Zoo is their involvement with an amazing fifteen Baird’s tapir births. This species is the largest mammal in Central America; adults weigh 530-880lbs (240-400kg). What is even more astounding is how Juan and his family have taken their breeding one step further by creating a tapir reintroduction program unlike any other. They have established “guided” tapir releases revolving around one of their early success stories, who returns periodically from the nearby park reserve lands to teach new releases how to fend for themselves in the wild. Overall, it is a really unique and astounding methodology.

Following this visit, Project Green Jungle has committed to tracking and documenting releases from La Marina as the family-operated facility does not have the manpower to handle this task. At the conclusion of this extremely productive and informative meeting with Juan Jose, a white-tailed deer was born and just taking its first shaky steps. A symbolic end to a visit that promises to be the birth of the next phase for both La Marina and Project Green Jungle.

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