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The Pig Farm - La Selva Jungle Lodge |
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Our indigenous neighbors from the community of Pilche raise no animals which is very good for La Selva for it means no forest needs to be cut for grazing or to plant crops for fodder.
Occasionally they have taken to hunting over the years as it is both instinctual and satisfies a need for protein. We wanted to come up with a viable solution to this pressure, however slight on our ecosystem and so devised the following proposal that you will find below as it was presented and won the 2007 Ecotourism Award.
Goal
To use food that would be wasted ; table scraps left uneaten by the tourists, parings not used in cooking, fruits and vegetables past their prime for usage as food to guests as fodder for a pig farm.
The pigs when grown from this ample diet will be given to our indigenous neighbors.
Objectives
- In return for the pigs (protein) we eliminate hunting in the area since their dietary needs for protein have been satisfied and the agreement under which the pigs are given to the natives has been settled by contract.
- Fertilizer is created from the pigs from which a tropical fruit will eventually be grown in an area of land on our property that was cleared many years ago and serves no use and is not big enough for a reforestation effort.
Project Description For over 20 years La Selva Jungle Lodge has made agreements with incentives to our indigenous neighbors to dissuade them from hunting and also from having domesticated animals larger than chickens (so as not to destroy the forest for grazing land.) But as their population has grown and their taste for wild meat has not abated- while we have had much success in this area- the problem is far from solved. Tourists come to eat three times a day, as does a staff of about thirty. This provides enough food waste per day to fill three 55 gallon drums which all these years has been composted with the byproduct only occasionally used; especially in the butterfly farm. This amount of food waste will feed a large amount of pigs, bought in ascending size and to be grown and gifted to our indigenous neighbors at regular intervals. We built a pig farm, use tourist food scraps for pig feed, gift the pigs to the natives and by so doing save more rainforest animals and plants. The Pig Farm is a simple well-drained cement floor located near the same spot as the former compost heap with ample space, an attendant, and a water hose as needed. It is covered with a kind of rebar cage to ward off jaguars.
... click here to go to our contact form & a 5% Award."  
 
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