DAY
THREE:
I can scarcely believe so many
good things were packed into one day. In a way, I wish every day was filled
with such adventure and wonder. It would be tiring, however! I’m fairly spent
at this current hour.
The
morning
started at 6am with bird-watching. In Belize, there are over 600 species of
birds. We set out with a local expert to a place where 3 rivers meet in hope of
spotting some aves.
The first animal we were excited
to see, however, was not a bird. Swimming in the river, popping its head up
every few feet was an otter, and we all gazed excitedly from the bank, watching
it play. Shortly after, the bird sightings began. We covered about half of mile
watching and searching for birds. After spending some time by the river, we
crossed a rickety, wooden swinging bridge which made us feel like we were in
Indiana Jones, and I nearly fell off trying to take over-river photographs while
on such an unstable surface.
On the other side of the river,
we saw 3 lovely horses grazing in a field. They were surely owned by someone,
but as Belizeans do not use fencing for their animals, it could not be sure to
whom they belonged. In a way, their timid manner made me feel that they were
nearly wild horses. Of course, I became determined to pet one. I had seen a few
other students making attempts, but had yet to see a success. After trying and
failing about three times, I started a more cautious approach (everyone else
was off by a fence watching a warbler at this time). I eased up to the horse,
looking at him, allowing him to be nervous, and I gently held out my hand
beneath his nose, until curiosity got the better of him and he had to smell it.
When his smooth nostrils got just close enough to get a healthy whiff of me, I took
a finger and gently stroked his muzzle. Success! I was very pleased!
We then crossed back over the
bridge and headed down a dirt road, mostly in hopes of seeing a Toucan before
departing. Unfortunately, we did not see a toucan in the wild, but we did see a
most adorable and beautiful pygmy owl, not much bigger than a softball. We also
saw an iguana about a hundred feet high up in a tree and about 4 feet in
length. It was amazing! Twice we heard giant thuds, which turned out to be
iguanas dropping from the trees when they wish to descend, because climbing
down is too steep and difficult. Crazy!
For
any of you interested in birds, here is a list of what we spotted today:
Little Blue Heron, Spotted
sandpiper, Melodious singing blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, Amazon kingfisher,
White-fronted parrot, Neotropic cormorant, Snow-billed egret, Duskycap
flycatcher, Grey catbird, Great kiskadee, Tropical Kiwi, Parakeets,
Golden-fronted woodpecker, Grayish saltator, Ruddy ground-dove, Boat-billed
flycatcher, Grey-necked woodrail, Red-legged honeycreeper, and Pygmy owl.
Next, we went back
to the clinic and took care of Iggie. I restrained him while another student
removed some stitches from under his tail, and he dug his nails into my arms in
a most human manner as the stitch was pulled out. I also got to help perform
some physical therapy on him as well as acupressure, because his acupuncture
treatments are finished. In essence, I gave an iguana a therapeutic massage
today! It actually seemed to increase his mobility and help him.
After
his care,
we had lecture and discussion. Just a few interesting facts I learned about
Belize include that 2 of the first 5 laws passed in this country after independence
were for protection of the environment; 65-70% of the country is covered in
natural, secondary forest; and it is estimated that over 1 million Mayans lived
in Belize, and the place is littered with “Mayan trash,” also known as
artifacts.
Our
discussion
about the role of veterinarians in re-introduction of species and in education
was a most poignant one. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting around and approaching
some difficult ethical questions from many angles and opinions, but with a
unified theme that we should care for and protect what is living, beautiful,
useful, and important here on earth. Two of the topics we touched on today were
so very important that I feel I must mention them here:
1. Keeping wild
animals as pets is never a good idea. One of the huge differences between a
regular veterinarian and a wildlife veterinarian is interaction with patients.
In some cases, particularly those of highly injured animals (such as Iggie),
more contact is achieved than is strictly normal, but overall, a wildlife
veterinarian seeks to have as little contact with the animal as possible. A
wild animal is very much in danger when it loses a fear of humans, and our aim
is not to make friends with these animals, but love them by letting them be
what nature intended for them to be.
A particular
story that came up in discussion was one of the professor. She was brought a
howler monkey that had been a pet. For over a year, this monkey was unable to
do anything but lie upon the ground, and occasionally drag itself a few inches
with one arm. We saw pictures—every part of its body was misshapen. Arms,
fingers, legs, and spine all bent in unnatural ways. All he could do in life
was lie and be miserable. What caused such a condition, you may ask. The
situation described was a case of malnutrition. This monkey had not received
proper calcium or nutrients to keep his bones strong, and upon x-ray, tens of
fractures were seen all over his body. The bones had broken simply because they
were not strong enough to support weight. Once the bones had broken, they
healed in unnatural ways. My comment in this type of situation is this: only
specially trained people should ever care for wildlife. Even these people
(rehabilitators and zoo employees) are still learning so much in the field of
wildlife care. If those who have dedicated their life to this work are still
learning, it would make sense that common citizens would have no means or full
understanding of how to care for wild animals.
2. People will sometimes
say to those in this business that we should just ‘let nature take its course,’
and ‘what is helping just one life going to do, when it will go back in the
wild and die eventually anyway?’ My professor put it beautifully today when she
spoke of her conviction in helping individuals. Consider a species where there
are only a few hundred of the animals left in the wild. If a veterinarian can
assess and help but 5 of these animals, that is already a great percentage! And
indeed, what is a population composed of but individuals. We must what we can,
and that involves taking enough tiny steps, hoping others will take many other
tiny steps, and seeing that these can all lead to a great journey.
After
lecture, we
traveled to the Green Iguana project. The aim of this project is to breed
iguanas, raise them in protected environment, and release them into the wild
when they mature at around 2 years of age. Some older ones are kept on-site so
they may be used for breeding purposes and so the social group won’t be too
disrupted. In regard to the social group of the iguanas today, we met the king
of the enclosure, Gomez.
He is an orange color because males become
bright during breeding season. The females are green and the juveniles are
green. The males are highly territorial, and when any other male would approach
Gomez, he would bob his head up and down, up and down, as if listening to some
song with a strong bass beat. This behavior is a warning sign to others to stay
away. In fact, an iguana that had received an injury (two arm cuts) from Gomez,
is coming back to the clinic with us tomorrow for repair.
We observed many of the iguanas climbing
to impressive heights and got to hold Gomez to study his anatomy and strength
better.
Our tour guide was a vivacious,
young, dark Belizean who kept referring to all manners of things as ‘little,’
in situations where the word seemed awkward and superfluous. It was endearing.
One of my favorite quotes from him was a response to a student question.
Someone asked how the iguanas breed. He replied, “Well, we try to be discreet
to the public, but since you guys are going to be vets…well, it’s kinda like
rape.” It was an entertaining time to say the least.
After
we viewed the adult iguanas, we got to handle and see babies!!! The
little group of juveniles was extrapolated from their tree by the guide and
gingerly places all over our shoulders, arms, and heads! One of mine was pretty
aggressive and took to whipping me with his little tail in the face every time I
would move. A strong whip from an adult with those spiny scales can definitely
do some damage. We will get to test our restraint abilities tomorrow as we go
early to bathe all of the adult iguanas, an activity they apparently hate!
Finally,
we
went to a site of ancient Mayan ruins, called Cahal Pech. If anyone wants to
brag about what they did for exercise today, I will gladly tell them I ran
stairs on an ancient Mayan temple up to the sacrifice stone, and I’d say my
story would win. The whole place was made of stone and very interesting. There
were many layers to it, and many steps to get to other parts. A few of us
climbed to the highest point of the largest structure and lay upon a flat stone
overlooking the lush forest. The sky was a perfect, clear blue and the trees
were a perfect, bright green. A light breeze passed over my hot skin, and I felt
so spiritual and alive. Goodness and peace seemed to flow in and out of me, as
I thanked God for the beauty of this world and for history and for my
experiences.
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