13 peccaries sail home to heal a Costa Rican forest

Conservationists with Osa Conservation and Costa Rica's ACOSA moved 13 white-lipped peccaries from the Osa Peninsula to Piedras Blancas National Park, where the species was wiped out by hunting roughly 18 years ago. The animals were lured into a baited corral over about a year and a half, then trucked and ferried by boat across the Golfo Dulce in a 16-hour operation involving more than 20 people.

The reintroduction aims to restore an ecosystem role peccaries play by turning soil, dispersing seeds, and creating wallows that become habitat for other species, and to give the park's jaguars a prey base back after their disappearance pushed jaguars toward riskier hunting near people. About a decade of population research and community engagement preceded the capture, and two of the released animals now wear satellite collars for monitoring.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.