Harpy eagle celebrates third birthday at zoo

Belizeans are well acquainted with April, that fine specimen of our national animal that has warmed the hearts of zoo goers for what seems like… decades. But the Belize Zoo has other stars waiting in the wings and today News Five’s Jacqueline Woods got up close and personal with one such emerging performer.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It’s a rare occasion that anyone gets the opportunity to feed Panama, the Harpy Eagle at the Belize Zoo. So when I was asked to share in that experience I was more than thrilled to be in the company of one of the largest birds of prey in Central America. I must admit that at first there was some apprehension, but I soon found that my new feathered friend could not have been more gentle.

The Harpy Eagle is the national bird of Panama and one of the most endangered raptors in the region. In past decades the bird’s population sharply declined because it was hunted and its habitat destroyed due to deforestation. It was almost five years ago that a harpy eagle was sighted in Belize. Unfortunately that bird was later shot and killed by hunters.

Sharon Matola, Zoo Director
“There haven’t been many clear documentations in Belize about Harpy Eagles, we just know that years ago when they started doing bird surveys here, say in ’59, that they were seen and they were documented. How many? Nobody has a number, they were certainly more than there are today like all species of wildlife.”

To save these birds from extinction, in 1989 the Panamanian based conservation group, The Peregrine Fund, started a research project on the Harpy Eagle. As a result of that activity, Panama was brought to Belize to help in the educational campaign. Three years later, Belize remains at the forefront of this conservation effort. Belize Zoo Director and Belize Harpy Eagle Restoration Programme Coordinator Sharon Matola, has been working with students… and today she invited the youngest children to a very special birthday party.

(Kids singing birthday)

Sharon Matola
“The kids are so open to wildlife education and conservation. And remember that when I came here a long, long time ago and first started the zoo, I would go into schools and kids didn?t know what a mountain cow look like, they had no idea. And it seems sad that there were fabulous animals in a terrific country, you need to put the people who live here in touch with their wildlife.”

Jacqueline Woods
“Which one of you want to tell me about Panama, the harpy eagle? What can you tell me about Panama? …How old is Panama today?

Children
“Three years old.”

Jacqueline Woods
“And should we be scare of Panama?”

Children
“No.”

Jacqueline Woods
“Why? Why shouldn’t I be scared of Panama?”

Child
“We like it.”

Jacqueline Woods
“You like Panama? Why??

Child
“Because it deh inna the zoo.”

Since the restoration programme started in 2003, five harpy eagles brought in from Panama have been released in the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area.

Sharon Matola
“That connects with the broader forest in Mexico and Guatemala. Twenty-two thousand square kilometres of tropical forests, so there’s lot of territory for them. Lots of it is protected, all of it’s protected, some of it’s privately protected and so the birds are eating wild prey like coatis, kinkajous, iguanas, grey fox, porcupine, anteaters, all animals that climb trees of course and doing really, really well.”

Matola says because of the project’s success, both conservationists and scientists are looking to use the initiative as a pilot programme for other large birds of prey that are also being threatened. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.