Lost Minister Found, Says He Was Never Lost
Search parties found Costa Rica's missing energy and environment minister on Saturday suffering from a nasty bite by a wild tapir, after he got lost in a jungle reserve two days earlier.

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, 46, was found in the Sirena section of the Corcovado National Park in southern Costa Rica after getting separated on Thursday from a group of ministry employees which was patrolling the park for poachers.

The minister was taken to hospital in San José to treat a tapir bite in his side, Interior Ministry spokesman Benigno Rodriguez said.

The disappearance meant the mobilization of hundreds of police official and red cross workers. The total cost of the search and rescue effort is still unknown.

The Ministro de Ambiente y Energía (Minister of Environment and Energy) said that he knew the whole time that he could get out and apologized for his carelessness and for having committed an indiscretion. The minister's own mother scolded him in public for his actions.

Corcovado National Park, located on the Osa Peninsula near Costa Rica's border with Panama, is home to a myriad of wild animals, including jaguars and peccaries, whose numbers are being threatened by poaching.

The ministry patrol in Corcovado's 420 sq. km (162 square miles) of virgin rainforest was part of a government crackdown on poachers. Rodriguez is a keen conservationist and outdoorsman.

Costa Rica's lush, wildlife-filled National Parks are one of its main attractions for tourists, the country's top source of foreign exchange income. Hikers can easily get lost by wandering onto the wrong path, however.

Tapirs are generally shy and do not attack humans, tending to crash off into the bush when threatened, but when scared they can defend themselves by biting with very powerful jaws and large sharp teeth.