King Honors Couple for Exemplary Conservation Work In Belize

Every New Year, the British Monarchy rewards select citizens and members of the Commonwealth, in all fields of work, with honors to celebrate their contributions to society, community, or their area of employment. This is known as the King’s New Years Honors list. And this year, a couple residing in Belize has been granted the title of Members of the Order of the British Empire for their remarkable conservation work in Sarteneja. We spoke with Paul and Zoe Walker, directors of Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Wildtracks, for more information.

Zoe Walker

Zoe Walker, Director, Wildtracks

“Wildtracks was founded way back in 1990. It was originally an environmental education organization, but over the years we’ve taken on more of a conservation role. Both in terms of wildlife rehabilitation, working with endangered species and also with protected areas, conservation planning, wherever we’re able to help out for conservation in Belize.”

Britney Gordon

“So did it start in Belize or was it founded in the UK and brought here?”

Zoe Walker

“No, it’s definitely 100 percent Belize organization. It was founded in Belize and has been, active out 1:12 since 1990. It was a complete surprise and we feel really honored that the work that we do has been appreciated and that we’ve been awarded the honor as well. But at the same time, Wild Tracks is all about collaborations, so it’s a tribute to the work of our partners, of the government of Belize. It’s not something that Wild Tracks has achieved on its own over the time that we’ve been in Belize. So congratulations to all the partners out there out 2:00 as well. Wildlife rehabilitation never stops, so that will continue into the future. On the conservation planning side, we’re moving more into capacity building training for conservation practitioners to ensure there are enough people for effective conservation planning in Belize. We’ve learned a lot during our time here and really appreciate those lessons. So now it’s time to see how we can pass those lessons on to other people, especially the younger people coming into the conservation field. So we are looking at moving more into a training role in terms of conservation. Planning side, we also want to move back into engaging youths because they’re so important in protected areas and conservation. Generally, in knowing about the values of wildlife, knowing how to actively protect them, and how to be good conservation stewards. So we are restarting our outreach program primarily for schools but also taking in interns from the universities as well.”