Jungla de Panama Painting
We went to a place outside of Boquete called Jungla de Panama. It’s a rescue rehabilitation and release center for animals. They have 13 different kinds of animals right now.
When we walked in, Ms. Dorothy handed me Tara, a 3-month-old howler monkey. She was soft and cute! Tara climbed up on top of my head, but we didn’t have the camera ready. We did get a picture of her on top of John Thomas’ head though!
John Thomas and Tara
Tara loves to be with Dorothy so much, and she’s seems so happy with her, but she will eventually be released back into the wild when she is old enough to care for herself.
Eli got a great picture taken with Tara. It looks like they are both smiling! In reality, Tara could see Ms. Dorothy and was screaming for her. She’s just like a little baby, which is what she is!
Eli and Tara
Tara has a sad story. Ms. Dorothy said that people will sell baby monkeys on the side of the street for sixty dollars. The problem with that is to get the monkeys, people go into the jungle to find the mommas, and they can’t just walk up to them and take the baby. You have to kill the momma or she will tear you to pieces. Ms. Dorothy also said that a baby monkey can have up to four “aunts”, which the baby monkey goes to if something ever happens to the momma. They’re always close by. That means that people go into the jungle and kill up to five different monkeys in order to get one baby.
Ms. Dorothy showed us around Jungla. She has two monkeys, three quail, one toucan, one owl, a lot of dogs, one scarlet macaw, one hedgehog, one rabbit, a bunch of chickens, and eight or nine goats.
Ms. Dorothy Educates the Gilberts
The scarlet macaw’s name is Casey, he’s 39-years-old, and he’s very jealous of Ms. Dorothy’s attention.
Ms. Dorothy with Tara and Casey
Casey was acting jealous of Tara because she was with Ms. Dorothy so long. Casey was screaming! She also had seven parrots that she was able to release back into the wild. They fly their families by Jungla to see Ms. Dorothy almost every day!
She has people bring injured animals to her, but she does not go looking for them. Some of the animals have to stay, like the toucan, because he can’t fly, or Daisy, an adult howler monkey, who’s never been in the wild and was abused.
Toucan and Selah
With the other animals, she is waiting for them to heal and grow before she sets them free. All the animals love Ms. Dorothy!
It was feeding time, so Ms. Dorothy let us help feed most of the animals. We got some good pictures too!
Isaac Feeding the Animals
I got to hold the hedgehog but he was very sharp.
Hedgehog
I held him with a cloth between him and my hands, and I could still feel how sharp he was through it! Selah went to grab him and I pulled her away just in time.
Hedgehog & Me
The toucan was very active. John Thomas gave him a piece of banana, and I saw his tongue. It was really thin and very long! It looked like a piece of plastic.
The owl had big yellow eyes and was happy that we would stroke his neck. He was very nice!
Dad, Selah, and the Owl
I promise that we didn’t forget to bring Jude along! He was just very tired from church and had to take a nap while we were there. Here’s a picture right before he took a nap!
Jude is Ready for Bed
Thank you, Jungla, for such a cool day! We all hope that we can come back soon and spend another day with the animals.
John Thomas and Tara
Casey & Crew
The Gilberts at Jungla
I would love to help out there some day! I hope you enjoyed my blog about Jungla! I will send some more out soon!
Carly 
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Woooow! Thanks for this post! We are so excited to go visit this place now! We actually HAVE a hedgehog as a pet!!! We hope to meet you all soon on a home school adventure! -Karyn & family