A refuge needs water. The file needs ink.

If we ask what a form saves, we should also look at attempts to restore the axolotl. In Xochimilco, some work looks very different from a seizure headline: repairing canals with the people who farm them.

A project with a place and people

UNAM’s Ecological Restoration Laboratory works with chinampa farmers to create refuges. A December 2025 university bulletin describes biofilters that improve water and restrict carp and tilapia entry, alongside farming without agrochemicals.

An earlier UNAM Global report describes controlled releases and animal monitoring in selected refuges in 2023 and 2024. These are supervised interventions with assessment, not an invitation to empty a home aquarium into a canal.

What deserves measuring

Habitat can be assessed through water quality, invasive species, survival and reproduction. The farming activity also needs to remain viable: restoring a canal and then abandoning it achieves little.

A habitable canal needs work every day. A stamp takes only as long as its ink needs to dry.

Adopting without taking an animal home

Adoptaxolotl is UNAM’s campaign supporting restoration and chinampa farming. Adoption is symbolic; it does not provide a pet axolotl. Current options are listed on its official website.

The distinction helps make a concrete argument: resources and controls should be justified by their results for a population, an ecosystem or an animal’s welfare. The number of pages in a file measures none of those outcomes.