If there is one single thing you do when you go to the Amazon, do this: Amazonian Manatee Rescue Center. http://www.ikitos.com/acobia-dwazoo/acobiaEN01.htm
This wonderful organisation rescues and rehabilitates orphan manatees, close relatives of the dugong. These gentle and beautiful creatures are still hunted for their meat, and if a mother has a calf then it is usually sold as a pet. Here we met a pair of orphans, both under 2 years old. We fed them pawpaw while they sucked on our fingers and investigated what else we had to offer. It would have been so easy to climb into their pond and spend the day. Heart breaking to hear that they are fighting extinction. There was a tiny 6 month old, fishermen had killed his mother then tried to sell him to the rescue center. Not realising it is illegal to sell manatees in Peru he was saved. But because he had been fed cows milk he was very ill. Manatees are lactose intolerant. Poor little thing was fighting a stomach infection. A sad thing to see. But the delight of meeting these animals face to face, just incredible.
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