What We Do
Rewilding
Our wildlife program rescues, rehabilitates, and rewilds native Amazonian species affected by trafficking and other human pressures. We specialize in wild felids and other carnivores, using minimum-contact rehabilitation, behavioral assessment, and evidence-based release protocols whenever return to the wild is possible.
Ecological Research
Through long-term camera-trap monitoring, field ecology, and collaborative research, we study wildlife populations, behavior, community ecology, and anthropogenic pressures across the Las Piedras landscape. Our work generates rigorous, long-term data that directly informs conservation planning, species management, and landscape-level decision-making.
HABITAT & LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION
We protect intact rainforest while working with communities, landholders, researchers, and government agencies to strengthen conservation across the Las Piedras watershed. Our approach combines direct habitat protection, ecological monitoring, collaborative partnerships, and practical interventions that safeguard wildlife and connected forest landscapes.
EDUCATION & CAPACITY BUILDING
We train students, early-career scientists, and emerging conservationists through immersive field programs, research mentorship, and hands-on experience in Amazonian ecology and wildlife rehabilitation. Our programs build practical skills and scientific understanding while supporting the next generation of conservation professionals in the Peruvian Amazon and beyond.
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to protect and strengthen Amazonian biodiversity in Madre de Dios, Peru, by conserving intact ecosystems, confronting threats to wildlife, rescuing and rewilding native species, advancing scientific research, and building conservation capacity through education and training.
FROM WILDCAT TO HOJA NUEVA TODAY
Amazon Studios’ Emmy-winning documentary Wildcat captures Hoja Nueva during our earliest years of operation, before the establishment of our current government-authorized wildlife rescue center. The film documents an important but formative period in our history and does not represent the facilities, protocols, standards, or scope of our work today.
Since filming, Hoja Nueva has developed specialized rehabilitation facilities, veterinary partnerships, minimum-contact and evidence-based release protocols, and an expanded scientific program. Some practices shown in the documentary are no longer part of our work, but Wildcat remains an important record of where Hoja Nueva began and how those early experiences shaped the organization we are today.
Habitat & Species Preservation
We work alongside local partners and landholders to directly protect more than 3,000 hectares of primary rainforest in the Las Piedras watershed, embedded within a conservation corridor of more than 100,000 hectares. Alongside protecting habitat, Hoja Nueva directly intervenes for threatened wildlife through rescue, rehabilitation, and rewilding. To date, we have rescued 398 animals and successfully returned 324 to the wild.
The Team
Diverse Expertise
Samantha Zwicker
Dylan Singer
Jared Guevara
Inclusive & Multicultural
Jared Guevara
Joaquin Clavijo Manuttupa
Eva Chomba
Kelly Mariela Mucha
News and Field Updates
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