Frank Weijand

Founder & Director

Frank worked as a journalist in The Netherlands before setting sail to South America in 2002. He travelled the continent extensively and wrote articles, but his life changing experience came while volunteering at wildlife rescue centres. With a lot of hands on experience as luggage, a couple of scratches and the strong desire to remain outside the office, he decided to give shape to Merazonia – a centre that focuses on the actual rehabilitation of wildlife in their natural environment.

Jungle experience

“Seeing an animal released is what we do all this for. But I also enjoy seeing volunteers from all over the world and all walks of life, work alongside each other. It makes me feel proud of creating this place and brings that intangible touch of magic to the centre.”

Want to know more? Read a recent interview with him.

Louisa Baillie

On-Site Veterinarian

Louisa graduated from Cambridge University and worked as a vet in England for several years, before coming to Merazonia as a volunteer, in early 2009. After some travels through the continent, Louisa became our resident vet. Merazonia is one of the few wildlife centres in Latin America with an onsite vet.

Louisa nowadays also has a Masters in Conservation Medicine, assists other centres in the area with medical work and is a member of the Ecuadorian Wildlife Veterinarian Association. She also completed a Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) course and she is unrivalled when it comes to digging kick-ass ditches.

Listen to her talk about her work in this radio-interview (starting at 9.30 minutes)

Jeni Taylor

Operations Manager

Jeni called us in February 2012 to ask if she could volunteer for a couple of days. We told her the minimum requirement was two weeks, but well, she never left anyway! These days Jeni oversees all daily Merazonia operations as well as monitoring animal welfare and coordinating future releases. Her experience as a zookeeper at Twycross Zoo in the UK is of great value for our day to day animal care, as is her enthusiasm, working spirit and seemingly endless energy.

Listen to Jeni talk passionately about the animals and the Merazonia community in this radio-interview (starting at minute 2)

Ana Davila

Development & Communications

Ana is from Quito. She always had a wonder and respect for animals and, as a result, studied Biology, dedicated some time to Environmental education, and then went on to study a Masters in Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare. Her passion and curiosity for other species and her will to leave a better print on our planet brought her to Merazonia in 2020 and after volunteering for a month it became the home of her heart.

Currently, Ana collaborates from Quito helping us with all things Spanish and much of the nitty gritties. She shares her life with her partner, three beautiful adopted doggies and a very loveable introvert cat.

Guido Viteri

Development

Guido was born and raised near Merazonia’s home ground, the village of Mera and has been part of Merazonia since the first spade went into the ground. Guido initially was in charge of the tough task of jungle construction. Though he still helps us with construction, we supported Guido to train as a Agriculture and Ecology specialist. He completed his studies in 2011 and now mostly manages our compost, plantation and reforestation projects. He is always up for laugh provided you speak Spanish (or at least try to). Guido has three children: Jefferson, Angelo and Wendy.

Kaya De Reede

Assistant Manager

Kaya originally joined us in 2017 and stayed for 9 months, she proved to be quite a professional accident magnet (even breaking her thumb playing a game of slapsies). She has since gained a diploma in Animal Management, majoring in Wildlife Management. She works like a warrior but can fall over her own feet and is petrified of the dark, naked flames and horror movies. For this stint she plans to be around for 2 years, let’s see what she can break this time round….

Jennifer Greene

Founder

Jennifer is co-founder of Merazonia and was hands-on involved with the initial five rough years of construction and paperwork. She now spends most of her time back in the United States, working as a psychologist and raising her family (2 boys, 2 girls, a dog and many foster kittens). She is director of Merazonia’s US based 501(c)(3)non-profit organization Save Ecuador’s Animals that helps to fund the centre's projects. She tries to visit the refuge whenever she can.

Megan Birch

Social Media & Communications

Megan joined us in 2018, and after spending three months volunteering, couldn’t get enough! She continued to be involved from afar, which lead to the creation of Jungle Groove - a European-based charity festival raising funds for Merazonia. Now Megan is back in the jungle with us, organising all things social media and communications while helping out with animal care, of course. Considering Megan’s usual pastime is teaching Scuba Diving, she’s adapted very well to life in the jungle so far from the ocean!

Alex Girard

Fundraising

Alex joined us as a volunteer in 2013 and came back later that year as a coordinator. Being at Merazonia became a life changer for him and Alex. He picked up a study in wildlife rehabilitation while also using his background in fundraising to further develop Merazonia’s rehabilitation projects as well as several projects in Africa. He regularly visits Merazonia to get his hands dirty.

Sanne van der Meer

Fundraising

Sanne joined us in 2019 for two months of volunteering. After leaving Merazonia, things just didn't feel right so she returned for five months in 2021. Now, Sanne is involved with various fundraising projects for Merazonia, including the organisation of a volunteer meet-up in The Netherlands this year. Keep an eye on our socials for details!