Environment: The Last Roundup

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Deep in the Darien jungle of Panama last week, a long, pink cayuco (dugout canoe), propelled by an outboard motor, skimmed over the 150-ft.-deep waters of the newly formed lake. Spotting a floating tree trunk ahead, Tomas Perez, a Panamanian Indian, gave the motor full throttle, then lifted the propeller out of the water. The canoe slid easily over the log, hardly disturbing its other occupants, TIME correspondent Bernard Diederich and an odd assortment of caged animals. Following closely behind were two more cayucos manned by other Panamanians and a fiberglass boat carrying the project leader, U.S. Biologist John Walsh, 35. The little flotilla was part of a project called Operation Noah II, sponsored by the London-based International Society for the Protection of Animals. Its mission: to save animals threatened with starvation or drowning as waters rise to cover a 250-sq.-mi. area of jungle behind the new Bayano River hydroelectric dam.

Sighting a kinkajou (tropical honey-bear) in a treetop rising above the water, Walsh gave the order to move in. The cayuco bumped gently against the treetop, and an ax-wielding Indian hoisted himself onto a branch to chop through the trunk. As the treetop toppled, he caught the kinkajou by the tail before it hit the water. Soon the little bear was safely ensconced in a cage in mid-canoe. A black-vested anteater was rescued next, followed by an opossum, two sloths and even a 6-ft.-long tree boa. Explains Walsh: "I don't apologize for saving snakes. I don't draw the line between what God creates."

After a six-hour stint in the stifling heat and insect-laden atmosphere of the jungle lake, the cayuco returned to one of the two Noah II base camps, a collection of palm-thatched, open-sided huts at the top of a hill that is still 200 ft. above the surface of the rising water. There the caged animals were placed in the shade and fed bananas. Then, late in the afternoon, Walsh and his helpers loaded the cages into boats and cruised up one of the more than 30 rivers that feed into the Bayano Dam reservoir. Far upstream in what he called an "ecologically secure area," he released them, taking care, for example, to place a two-toed sloth safely on a low-hanging branch of a tree.

Overpopulation. Ironically, Noah II has come under fire from conservation groups; they argue that taking animals from one area of jungle and placing them in another disturbs the ecological balance, creating overpopulation of some species that leads to starvation and unnatural stresses. To avoid upsetting the balance, Walsh has invited experts into surrounding jungle areas, asking their advice about the numbers of various species that each locale can reasonably support. "Overpopulation has been my greatest concern," he says. "That is the only criticism someone can have of a project such as this. I'm really sensitive about it."

All told, Walsh, with his coterie of 20 Indians and fleet of eight cayucos. has already saved more than 800 animals since arriving on the scene last December. As the waters rise farther to their eventual depth of more than 200 ft., Noah II will concentrate on rounding up bigger animals−jaguars, cougars, ocelots and tapirs−that have so far managed to survive by making their way to higher ridges. To avoid danger in taking the big cats, Walsh will use tranquilizer guns.