Night-Time Zoo Tours: Belizeans Enjoy Animal Encounters
When was the last time you went to the Belize Zoo? Was it when you were a child on a school trip, or more recently, on a socially distanced day out with family or friends? The Belize Zoo, now over thirty years old, is becoming more research-oriented under new leadership, and even more conscious of the loyalty of local Belizean visitors whose support literally keeps the animals fed during the pandemic. The Zoo is also offering an exciting alternative to daytime animal encounters. That’s right, now you can visit the Zoo after hours and see what the critters get up to after dark. Here is our new feature, “The Bright Side.” Or maybe in this case, “The Wild Side” might be a bit more accurate.
Sabreena Daly
Sabreena Daly (standup)
Have you experienced wildlife at night time? Perhaps you’ve only seen it on Discovery Channel, but the Belize Zoo wants to give you an up close and personal experience of nocturnal wildlife at twilight.
Celso Poot
Celso Poot, Director, Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
“I mean, this is a work of passion and anybody who works at the zoo, they really love what they do and I think that is one of the contributing factors so far to our success at the Belize Zoo. The people that work here, really into the animals.”
Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper
“So one of the first animals we will see for this night tour is the Kinkajou and he lives right here. Hello, this is Fuzzy. This is a fully nocturnal animal, during the day if you come to the zoo, he will be sleeping in that log. As soon as it gets dark, then Fuzzy will wake up and start moving around.”
The Belize Zoo is home to over 200 animals. Celso Poot, who has taken over as director following the death of zoo founder, Sharon Matola, shared with us the challenges of inheriting leadership under difficult circumstances.
Jerson Garcia
Celso Poot, DirectorBelize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
“The transition has been very challenging. Uh, Sharon was a good fundraiser. The transition happened at a time when we were in one of the, I would say, equivalent to a big disaster. You know, the pandemic has hit us very hard. Um, financially, our main source of revenue is through gate receipts, sales in the gift shops, sales in the cafeteria and also group stays over the Tropical and Educational Center. Uh, pre pandemic, the staffing were like fifty-eight. Uh, at the peak of the pandemic we went down to less than thirty employees. Today we’re back up to thirty-eight employees. And all the employees are on a shift basis, reduced days, but we keep on working and doing what we’re supposed to do for the well being of the animals at the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center.”
The pandemic has meant going into survival mode for the institution that houses and protects Belize’s wildlife treasures.
Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper
“I remember one of Ms. Sharon’s words, “It’s sacrifice time for everybody.” We the zookeepers, we love what we do, so we do it with a passion. It’s not just to come and ‘Here is your food, have a good day.’ No, we have to observe, we have to train. It’s like our friends because we spend every day here with the animals and they rely on us. And um, it’s a job yes, because we get paid for it, but its more than that for us.”
Celso Poot says it was the loyalty of Belizean visitors, most of whom grew up visiting the Zoo, that has saved it.
Celso Pott, Director
“What most people don’t know is we have the tropical education center where you can come spend a night with us and then tour the zoo at night. So most of the people doing the night tour were tourist or schools we host at the Tropical Education Center. But during the pandemic, we started offering it to Belizeans and so we had a lot of Belizean families coming to the zoo and experiencing the zoo at night. So for 2021, we had just over 25,000 Belizeans coming to the zoo to visit. We had over 17, 000 adults and over 17, 000 Belizean kids coming to the zoo. All their visitation contributed to the operation of the zoo so that also helped us in feeding the animals, keeping the lights on and paying the staff.”
Jerson Garcia, Zoo Keeper
“So this is the Ocelot. And here he is. This is a male 8-year-old Ocelot, his name is Rhaburn. We got him from a farm, Rhaburn Ridge Farm, 8 years ago. This is how they greet. If he was mad, he would be jumping on the fence…All right, I’m going to put some meat on the fence, and he’s going to jump for it. Ready, okay this is what he will do. So, here we have Indie the tapir. And this is a full grown, thirty-year-old, male tapir. Hi Indie. So let me show you, you just put it in his mouth like this and while he eats the carrots you can always give him a quick pet on his head so you feel how thick his skin is. Just put it in his mouth and don’t be afraid.”
As you can probably tell, my shaky attempt to pet Indie was quickly reassured with the realization that she was just a friendly Tapir that loved carrots as much as I do.
Celso Pott, Director
“Well to tell you, for the Christmas weekend and New Year’s weekend, we were very busy with Belizeans so in a way it’s a blessing that the borders are closed because they basically come and see and appreciate what we have here for them.”
And we really appreciated this jaguar that rolls over on command. With the Bright Spot, I am Sabreena Daly.
If you and your family or school would like to do a night tour at the zoo, you can contact the Belize Zoo at 613-4966.
