In the framework of the International Rewilding Day, the career of Sofía Ocampo, a veterinarian and member of the conservation group at Patagonia Park, helps to understand the tasks aimed at rescuing native species, restoring ecosystems, and reestablishing the connection with our collective home.
In the northwestern region of Santa Cruz, where wind gusts dominate the steppe, a daily task unfolds that often goes unnoticed. It involves human groups dedicated to monitoring, relocating, and safeguarding extensive processes, driven by the certainty that it is possible to repair environmental damage.
Within this framework works Sofía Ocampo, a veterinary professional at Patagonia Park, who found in rewilding a real tool to reintegrate nature to its original rhythm and gradually rebuild vital balance.
Her vocation did not arise in the steppe; during her academic stage at the National University of La Rioja, a particular experience determined her future.
Sofía recounts that her perspective changed when a puma victim of a road accident entered the school hospital where she practiced. By being part of its healing and rehabilitation, she understood a higher concept: “We were not only attending to an individual, but we were collaborating with the ecosystem.”
That notion gained strength through volunteering and her first incursions into conservation, finally identifying rewilding as a pragmatic action methodology.
The value of the imperceptible
Working in Patagonia Park is also a sensory experience. “It has the peculiarity of the vastness of the steppe; from any point, the view is infinite,” explains Sofía. This is complemented by regular contact with wildlife, which serves as her daily incentive.
There is also an emotional component: the discovery of the “true silence.” This environment, combined with a team with similar ideals, gives purpose to a job she describes as “extremely intense but profound.”
Her routine is dynamic and includes the planning of captures, species monitoring, anesthesia procedures, translocations, monitoring in a state of freedom, or quarantine protocols.
“Predictability does not exist,” says Sofía about the management of wildlife. That statement encapsulates the core of the challenge: “Preparation, flexibility, and constant adaptation to each species and specimen are required,” she details.
The environment also conditions the task: the harsh climate, the wind, and the vast distances, along with complex logistics due to isolation, demand a state of incessant movement.
Among her experiences, she particularly highlights the transfer of choiques between Argentina and Chile. The operation required capture, sanitary isolation, and sophisticated logistics, with a technical milestone: “It was the first wild-to-wild translocation between both countries. Specimens were captured in the wild to be released under the same conditions,” she details.
That milestone involved enormous technical responsibility and sanitary care, ensuring the animals arrived in optimal conditions. “It was exciting to understand the relevance of what we were doing for conservation,” she recalls.
Rebuilding balance and meaning
In an era of degraded ecosystems, rewilding transcends the biological. “It also involves communities,” says Sofía. The rescue of species is simultaneously a rescue of local identity and culture. In Patagonia, this path is still passable.
“Every living being has a critical function; if a piece is missing, the system becomes unbalanced,” she warns. In that reconstruction, it is defined how we decide to inhabit the Earth.
Restoring the natural rhythm
The concept of rewilding suggests that protecting what remains is insufficient. It is imperative to rebuild what has been lost and reactivate natural processes that have been blocked for decades.
Sofía defines it from practice: “It is a conservation strategy that seeks the restoration of complete ecosystems, often through the reintroduction of species extinct at a local level.” The ultimate goal is for nature to regain its autonomy and ancestral dynamics.
Finally, this process integrates a basic social pillar: working with local communities, promoting jobs and new bonds with the environment. It is this social fabric that ensures that conservation projects endure and establish a harmonious coexistence between humans and the environment.
