ARCAS - Volunteer Opportunities

ARCAS is a non-profit Guatemalan NGO formed in 1989 by a group of Guatemalan citizens who became concerned as they saw their precious natural heritage - especially their wildlife - rapidly disappearing before their eyes.
It was originally created for a very specific and urgent purpose: to build a rescue center to care for and rehabilitate wild animals that were being confiscated on the black market by the Guatemalan government.
Since its establishment, the ARCAS Rescue Center has grown into one of the largest and most complex rescue centers in the world, receiving between 300 and 600 animals of more than 40 species per year.

ARCAS's objectives are:

• To strive for the conservation, preservation, protection and research of wildlife;
• To rescue, rehabilitate and reintroduce into their natural habitat wild animals seized from illegal traffickers;
• To promote and assist in the creation and management of protected habitat areas for wild animals;
• To support tropical wildlife veterinary medicine and research;
• To reproduce and re-introduce endangered wildlife;
• To raise awareness among Guatemalans and visiting tourists about the need to conserve natural resources through a program of education and information

ARCAS and the wild animals it protects benefit from the support of over 500 volunteers per year both at its Rescue Center in Petén, its Sea Turtle and Mangrove Program in Hawaii, and at the Senderos de Alux Environmental Education Center near Guatemala City. Volunteers contribute technical expertise as well as contribute to the financial self-sufficiency of ARCAS’s conservation efforts while themselves gaining valuable work experience and an insight into Guatemalan culture.

Being a non-profit, voluntary organization, ARCAS doesn’t have the resources of a larger international NGO or university. Volunteers are expected to be fairly independent and self-sufficient and are expected to cover their own travel expenses to the projects as well as their own personal needs in terms of visas, special diets, medications and communications with loved ones back home.

More info at: http://www.arcasguatemala.com