April the Tapir reaches another milestone

They are the five national symbols of Belize: the national flag, mahogany tree, keel-billed toucan, black orchid, and the tapir. And all eyes are on the famous tapir, April, who turned twenty-six today. The mountain cow’s maternal clock is ticking away and this has become a concern for officials at the Belize Zoo. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali, Reporting
This year’s singing was provided by children from Hummingbird Mennonite School and Hector Daniel Martinez presented the birthday girl with her cake, something the standard three student said he’d been looking forward to doing.

Marion Ali
“You weren’t you scared at all?”

Hector Daniel Martinez, fed April her cake
“No.”

Marion Ali
“Most kids your age would be afraid to approach an animal that big and to feed it.”’

Hector Daniel Martinez
“Well, I see ih look tame, other people get in deh, so I figure ih tame.”

Marion Ali
“You always come to the zoo?”

Hector Daniel Martinez
Well, I come like three times already.”

Marion Ali
“Which other animals you like?”

Hector Daniel Martinez
“Jaguar, monkey, deer and antelope

While it was April’s birthday, she did not mind sharing her cake with her partner, Bullet Head. The twenty-six year old April looked as vibrant as she did even ten years ago and zoo staffers say has lived a full life despite her shaky start in life.

Sharon Matola, Director, Belize Zoo
“She has a historic wound on her side. April came dying as baby with screw worm. Belize doesn’t have screw worn anymore and it was a really bad infestation of this parasite. You call literally talk your fist and stick into her body. She couldn’t stand you, she was just hopeless and I brought her back to life and decided that this mountain cow because I can see that there was a need to get people to recognize and love this animal. They didn’t have any other way to do it and she became a symbol for her species and we started to celebrate her birthday to draw attention to her and to take her everywhere and it’s worked.

Matola says while April is still in good form, she is ageing now and her chances of reproducing are growing slim.

Sharon Matola
“She’s never had a baby. We’ve tried different males and she just has not been interested. So, our hope is with our pair of tapirs in the back, who are young and maybe when love the magic kicks in, they’ll respond to that and give us a baby mountain cow at the Belize Zoo.”

Marion Ali
“Can she reproduce or the sickness that she had or when you found her, you think that has a…?”

Sharon Matola
“No, I just think she not interested. In animals, they tend to reproduce if all the elements are in their personal sync and obviously something is out of sync. In twenty-six years, we haven’t been able to figure it out and it might be something simple, “I just don’t want a baby”.”

So while the Belize Zoo celebrates April’s birthday each year, they are hoping that very soon they will gather to celebrate the miracle of her giving birth.

Marion Ali for News Five.

On a separate note, Matola says the Belize Zoo has experienced unfortunate incidents occur such as robberies, which are affecting their survival.