Wildlife Conservation Belize Project #52620

Saving manatees and monkeys in Belize

by Wildtracks

Project Report | May 6, 2024
Building capacity for manatee response in Belize

By Zoe Walker | Director

It takes a team

May’s report is primarily about manatees...the 'floaty sea potatoes' that we all love so well - yet are so endangered, not just in Belize, but in the region.

It has been a busy start to May on the capacity building front, with Wildtracks hosting officers from the Belize Fisheries and Forest Departments and Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development for a three-day course on Manatee response, rescue and rehabilitation. These officers are on the frontline of manatee conservation, ensuring the safety of manatees in Belize's water. It has been a pleasure to share information that can help strengthen their response to live manatee strandings, and their understanding of the efforts required to ensure rescued manatees have the skills they need to return to the wild.

As one Forest officer said at the end of the course… ‘It takes a team’… As part of the course, two of the three rehab manatees (Tess and Toby) were prepared for soft release with the insertion of identifying pit tags to ensure they will be recognized in the long term if encountered again after release. Lifting even sub-adult manatees out of the pools for tagging takes a large, coordinated team of committed people working together. All those involved, both the Wildtracks team and the course participants, are to be congratulated for ensuring the process was completed with limited stress to both manatees and people!

Tess and Toby arrived at Wildtracks as very young calves in 2022 – about 1 m in length. The tagging provided an opportunity to check their size (they are both around 1.8m from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail) and assess their condition – their girth measurements show that they are doing very well! Their rehabilitation has only been possible because of the support of our Wildtracks family - volunteers and donors alike - thank you to all who have participated in their journey!

In other Wildtracks news, we are excited to provide an update on the status of the rehabilitation building - we are close to completion of the rooms, and ready to start furnishing and equipping the building. Every time I walk past, I am in awe of how much it is going to revolutionize operations here at Wildtracks. The move from a temporary room to this purpose-built centre is going to be amazing!! We are very pleased to provide you with a ‘sneak peek’ before we publicly declare it completed!

Thank you formaking Wildtracks dreams into reality, and for your coni=tinued support!

With best wishes from the Wildtracks Team!

Pit tagging Tess

Moving Tess

Moving Toby

Building capacity for understanding manatee rehab

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Building-almost there!

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Jan 8, 2024
Wildtracks - Building the Future....

By Zoe Walker | Director

'Sprout' - Our youngest Nursery monkey

Happy New Year!!

As we enter 2024, we have exciting news acoss all our programmes!

Our two rehab manatee calves, Tess and Toby, are approaching soft release – they will have their first days out in the soft release lagoon later this month / early next month. Before then they will be caught and ‘pit tagged’, so that that can be scanned and identified in the future, and fitted with soft release trackers that provide satellite data on where they go in the soft release lagoon. Also on the marine side, we are currently caring for two large turtles (a loggerhead and a green turtle), for the Belize Fisheries Department, as they recover from their injuries.

On the primate front, our Nursery Troop, Sprout and Meadow, are slowly transitioning to the Forest Enclosures – it may take them another month or so to permanently leave the Nursey, but they are enjoying their days spent playing in the larger Forest Enclosure. Rosie, the third Nursery monkey, has already moved out, and been adopted by Leah – a non-releasable adult who lost her sight after severe head trauma before rescue.

We have two pairs of howler monkeys in pre-release enclosures (Archie and Anerie, and Mowgli and Maisie) being prepared for release later this month in Fireburn / the Northeastern Biological Corridor. These will be followed by the four younger spider monkeys from Satellite Four – Cas, Kam, Ellie and Daisy. The 10-year assessment of release success for the Yucatan black howler monkeys is nearing its end - Wildtracks has released 86 howler monkeys into the Fireburn area, part of the North-Eastern Biological Corridor, between 2011 and 2023 through a carefully designed rehabilitation-reintroduction process. Over the ten-months of finding, tracking and collecting data on the released howler monkeys in the Northeast Biological Corridor, a total of 116 individual howler monkeys were identified within 21 troops that ranged in size from 1-10 individuals. 45.6% of the population were either juveniles or infants, and therefore born in Fireburn.

As we expand our capacity for taking non-target species (particularly coatis, raccoons, foxes and the occasional grison) we have been able to add forest enclosures and a pre-release enclosure to our Small Mammal Unit through Burgers’ Zoo.

2024 brings with it the construction of the replacement wildlife rehabilitation building, funded through grants from the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future, Twycross Zoo and Burgers’ Zoo. To make way for the new building, we had to sweep out the old....and give thanks to all those who knew, worked in, loved (and hated) the old Manatee Building. To those who knew it as the Education building, those who filled the room with Walt Disney songs as they mixed manatee milk or chopped fruit (and those who were really irritated by those who sang Walt Disney songs), to those who danced to the songs and those who danced to their own beat....thank you for all the memories this building held! For those who will join us in the future, creating new memories...we look forward to your arrival!

As part of the End of the Year Appeal for equipping the building, all donations this month are going towards the Appeal. The building will require around US$10,000 to ensure it is fully equipped for operations - solar power installation, shelving, storage, animal care equipment...we are already US$6,200 towards our total – many thanks for all those who have donated!

On the Conservation Planning side, Wildtracks finalized the revision of Belize’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, in collaboration with the Belize Forest Department, and drafted Belize’s first Wildlife Policy. The revisions include a ban on circus animals and the use of animals for testing products, addresses cruelty to wildlife, management of exotic species and the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples to manage wildlife within their lands. This still has to go through legal review and pass through Government, but it is a huge step forward!!

In other news, we congratulate our directors, Paul and Zoe Walker, who have both received MBEs as part of the King's New Year's Honours list this year, in recognition of their contribution to biodiversity and conservation in Belize! In their words… “We feel very honoured to be entrusted by the Government of Belize to provide rescue, rehabilitation and release services for some of its amazing wildlife, including endangered manatees, spider monkeys and howler monkeys. It has also been an inspiring adventure in the world of conservation planning across Belize's tropical forests, seas, and species....protected areas, conservation organizations and communities....and one that hasn't yet finished.

Whilst the awards have our names on them, they reflect the commitment of the Belize Government and the many conservation organizations and individuals we have collaborated with over the years, the work they do and the impacts they make. The awards also reflect the hard work and commitment of the volunteers and supporters who have made Wildtracks what it is today, and the greatly appreciated support from our local communities of Sarteneja and Fireburn.”

We hopy your new year has started as positively as ours has!!

With best wishes from the Wildtracks Team

Ellie - Soon to be released!

Green turtle in rehab at Wildtracks

The new rehab building - construction underway

Mapping of howler monkey troops at Fireburn, 2023

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Sep 16, 2023
Benchmarks for Success

By Zoe Walker | Director

Twiggy and her two week old calf (Photo: A. Lloyd)

Benchmarks for success in wildlife rehabilitation can be measured through contribution to the next generation - this was celebrated two weeks ago when Twiggy, one of our first rehabilitated manatees, turned up with....a new born calf!! Over the years, Twiggy has developed a routine of turning up in the lagoon twice a year for a week or so, hanging out with the soft-release manatees before she is off again into Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and Shipstern Lagoon, living her life as a wild manatee. We have always joked that one day, she would turn up with a calf.

Twiggy had arrived two days earlier, no calf in sight. An early morning by the terrace enjoying the sunrise led to Shannon, a member of the Wildtracks Team, being in the right place at the right time to see Twiggy swim up with a newly born calf at her side, accompanied by one of the other rehab manatees. A proud mother showing off her contribution to the next generation of Antillean manatees in Belize. For a species that is at increasing risk from boat traffic, every calf counts. We don’t know whether this little addition to the manatee population is male or female, but in watching Twiggy care for it over the last two weeks, we do know that she is providing the nurturing care that it will need to grow successfully. Once she is ready to take it out of the sheltered lagoon, she will teach it where to find seagrass, freshwater and ensure it has the life skills it needs for the future. It is success stories like this that your support helps to make a reality!

Video: Twiggy brings her newborn calf to visit

Manatees are not the only rehab animals that have provided opportunities for celebration over the last three months. News from the Fireburn community at our primate release site in Belize’s Northeastern Biological Corridor was of a sighting of Penny, one of the endangered Central American spider monkeys in last year’s release troop – a year on, and she is reported as being healthy, fit and fully settled into life in the wild. Seeing these agile primates living free and fulfilling their potential is the ultimate reward for all the hard work that goes into preparing them for freedom.

We can only achieve these successes with the support provided by our donors and volunteers – so we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for ensuring all wildlife in our care has the care needed, and the opportunity to return to the wild…you are a part of their stories!

Penny, a year after release

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