reporter: back in iquitos.he amazon rescue center works on species conservation, rescuing various threatened animals that are vital to the eco-system. including manatees, a marine mammal sometimes known as the sea cow. javier: manatees are the largest mammals in the amazon, but oddly enough, the least well-known. when we began n our work here, % of the inhabitants of iquitos were completely unfamiliar with this species. now and then a baby manatee would end up in their fishing nets and people would keep them as pets. but then the manatees would die in captivity. reporter: the amazon rescue center is the only place i in e world where rescued manatees are raised and then released back into the wild. they take a lot of looking after. the calves need to be fed every two hours for the first t two years. they're lactose-intolerant so they're given a special milk imported from the u.s. one manatee costs the center $10,000 per year. the animals have a gentle, trusting nature. javier: hunters kill them when they come up

the same is happening in peru, especially in the rainforest near iquitos.ur reporter tanya blut traveled to the region and found that logging has increased there over the past decade. but that may be changing now. reporter: the jungle around iquitos is home to more species than almost anywhere else on earth. it is a kind of paradise, but it is under threat. just 15 years ago, giant trees grew near the city. now they are floated down the river from further away, because there are none left here. deforestation is on the rise. logging yields valuable timber, in which there is a large illegal trade. and forests are being cleared for large plantations. but smallholder farmers also cut down trees, as they have done for centuries. like here in tres unidos, not far from iquitos. the farmers clear the land by hand, tree by tree. then they burn them. it's a common practice throughout the region. alan: it's bad for the environment. it releases large amounts of greenhouse gases. deforestation in the amazon region is continuing, as is soil erosion. burning timber shorte