Tania Baltazar

Co-founder / President, Inti Wara Yassi Community

“It is difficult to say which my favourite animal is, since to me each one of them is special. Since I was very young, I was always passionate about gorillas, although they lived thousands of kilometres away, so I never had the chance to observe them in their habitat.

This passion motivated my interest in wildlife. The first time I rescued an animal, it was a spider monkey. With them, I learned and realised that animals have emotions, perhaps even stronger than humans: emotional pain, happiness, sorrow…

So I’ll choose the spider monkey. Spider monkeys are amazing animals. They’re very smart and sensitive, and extremely agile, which makes it wonderful to observe how they move between the highest branches of the tree canopy. A very special characteristic is that they can be a little bit lazy, spending many hours lying under the sun.

When they look at you, it reaches your soul and you can’t avoid feeling compassion for these incredible beings.”

Photo by Tania Baltazar