Mission

The mission of CECONA is to make a contribution to the protection of nature in Costa Rica in general with a focus on Manuel Antonio National Park. There are a number of ways in which we want to realize this.

First of all by means of nature and environmental education. This activity, which will take place at the centre as well as on all the local primary schools, aims to stimulate ecological awareness. Using tours at the centre we can give visitors a peek at the immense beauty and diversity of nature. Furthermore we can explain the difficulties that arise in natural areas when mass tourism shows up and what people can do themselves to avoid a number of problems. Many of the animals which are present at the centre can play an important role in this. At the local primary schools we will try to involve the children in our activities. They can, for example, adopt an animal in the rehabilitation process. In this way the release of the animal will become a project of the school.

Second of all, by treating injured and sick wild animals in our shelter, we want to make a direct contribution to maintaining healthy populations. Furthermore we are going to try to strengthen weakened populations with animals that were formerly kept in captivity and are rehabilitated at the centre.

The third point of attention is the stimulation of independent research in the fields of biology, veterinary medicine and pharmacy. In this way a better comprehension will be gained of the surrounding nature. The improvement of this knowledge will not only lead to better treatments of different animal species, but also to a better foundation of the different protective measures.