Saving manatees and monkeys in Belize

A fiery sunrise welcomes the day as we start out towards Runaway Creek Nature Reserve. The vehicle has a certain musky primate smell that increases the further we drive. In the back, we carry a special passenger...a beautiful, healthy endangered Yucatan black howler monkey, heading towards his future, back in the wild.

Most of our releases are as groups of well bonded individuals that have grown by together since arriving at Wildtracks. This individual, however, is being released on his own. He is a young adult male who has been pushed out of his natural habitat by forest clearance, and pushed into August Pine Ridge, a community in north-west Belize. Each year there are an increasing number of reports of howler monkeys entering villages after being forced out of their forests by forest clearance. Once in the villages, they face threats from dogs, from youths with sling shots and pellet guns and from vehicles as they come down and cross roads. Working with the Forest Department, Wildtracks responds to these cases, translocating the individuals to new locations once they have been screened for injuries and disease.

This individual is joining an isolated pair of wild female howlers that have been observed over the past months by our partners at Runaway Creek (The Foundation for Wildlife Conservation)...strengthening the population of this important large seed disperser in Belize's Maya Forest Corridor. After trekking to the release site, the kennel is placed under a suitable door, the kennel door is opened – and he is off, climbing a tree to reach the canopy and basking in the warm morning sunlight of freedom…

Checking up on him the next morning, the Runaway Creek post-release tracking team find him where they left him the evening before, settled back into the routine of a wild howler monkey - dozing in the sunlight, foraging for leaves in the canopy and moving lazily through the treetops. It may be a week or so before he feels comfortable enough to start howling again...proclaiming his presence in his new home, but he now has a future back in the wild.

Not all stories end as well as this one - earlier this year we received reports of TikTok videos showing a very small howler monkey being kept illegally as a pet. It can be frustrating trying to piece together where a monkey is being held from clues in videos such as this, but with the assistance of some amazing internet sleuths, he was finally tracked down - from the glimpse of a vehicle through a window, from the beer cases stacked in the corner, from the weeds growing in the yard...each new video brought more clues. However, each video also showed the gradual decline in the condition of the monkey as it was filmed climbing on curtains, picking up a lighted joint, drinking coffee, inhaling cigarette smoke and eating rice and beans. Baby howler monkeys are very delicate and cases like these are time sensitive.

The clues finally formed a complete picture - he was located and immediately confiscated by the Forest Department and then transported to Wildtracks, where critical care started. Skin on bones, lethargic..he was in a bad state and despite intensive care and attention, he didn't make it. A loss like this hits the entire team. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, we all feel the death deeply. The vet's necropsy report spoke of his 'compromised immune system from chronic malnutrition'. 

95% of our stories have happy endings - the other 5% reminds us how fragile these lives are and how important the work is. Donations such as yours make a difference – the funds provide fuel for rescues, whether of monkeys or manatees, ensure we have medicine on site for emergency treatment that can save’s lives, provide enclosures, critical care incubators and equipment, purchase fruit, run awareness campaigns – the funds ensure the wildlife in our care has the best chance possible to return to the wild…so thank you once again for your support…we couldn’t achieve our successes without your support.