Pechan & Camote

Story:

My name is Pechan. I’ve lived at the sanctuary since May 2018. I was found wandering through Marino Ballena National Park with my sister. We were both sick, we had skin infections and a fungal problem, and it’s likely our mother had abandoned us because she knew something was wrong.

My sister only survived for a few days after we arrived. I stayed.

I became attached to people almost immediately, which meant I could no longer be considered for release. I’m also much smaller than a healthy male peccary should be, another sign that perhaps my mother knew I would struggle to survive in the wild.

Then, the following year, I met Camote.

She arrived in February 2019, when she was about six months old. She had been rejected by her own family group and raised by people, so, like me, she had become attached to humans.

The team introduced us slowly over two weeks.

We didn’t need much time.

We became very close, very quickly.

Camote has since become my companion, but she has her own challenges. Not long after she arrived, the veterinarians discovered that she has an enlarged heart. It makes her a little rounder than me, and she moves more slowly too.

Every morning, she gets her heart medication hidden in a smoothie made with banana, peanuts, honey, and yucca.

It’s a small daily routine, but it’s part of the life we’ve built together.

Neither of us can return to the wild.

We don’t have the natural fear of humans that wild peccaries need, and peccaries in this region are still heavily hunted. If we were released, we might not recognize danger until it was too late. We could walk straight toward the very things we should be running from.

So this is where we stay. Together.

We have safety here. We have care. And, most importantly, we have each other.

I lost my sister not long after we were rescued. I can’t change that.

But when Camote came into my life, I found a new companion, someone who understands what it means to have been given a second chance.

The wild was never able to keep us safe. So here, we keep each other safe instead.