April celebrates 23rd birthday

If the story you are about to watch looks familiar, that’s because it is. In fact almost every year at this time since 1992 we’ve had a red carpet view of one of the nation’s biggest bashments. Kendra Griffith, the latest in a long line of News Five reporters to draw the big assignment, reports from La Democracia.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
They came in the hundreds, preschoolers, primary-schoolers, and even high-schoolers … all making the annual pilgrimage to the Belize Zoo to celebrate the birthday of the most famous animal in Belize: April the tapir.

Celso Poot, Education Director, Belize
?We see April as an ambassador for all wildlife in Belize. She has some significance because of her status as national animal of Belize and being a tapir. So we use April on a yearly basis to spread the conservation message and to instil appreciation for wildlife in Belize among the elementary level students especially.?

According to the zoo?s Education Director Celso Poot, a ticket to April?s birthday is one of the most sought after invitations in the country.

Celso Poot
?We get a lot of requests to participate, but space is very limited. So what we do is we coordinate with schools making educational trips to zoo on that day and we give them a free pass to the zoo and have them participate in the celebrations.?

But before this latest generation of students could meet the birthday girl, they were first educated on Belize?s national animal … through skits and song.

Cessy Castillo, Environmental Educator, Belize Zoo
?As schools visit our zoo facility on a yearly basis, we see more participation and the students are getting more aware and how to answer our questions.?

Kendra Griffith
?And the children seem to be having a lot of fun today.?

Cessy Castillo
?Yes, they show that they have been having fun and that?s our number one goal, so they have fun.?

Then came the moment they were all waiting for ….

(Children singing happy birthday)

Because thirteen year old Eden Primary School student, Alejandro Rodriguez, was celebrating his birthday today too, he received the honour of giving April her cake.

And while twenty-three years may seem a bit old for a tapir … zoo officials say there?s no need to worry.

Celso Poot
?The lifespan of the tapir in the wild is about twenty years. In captivity, they say it?s about thirty. So in the wild April probably would have already become prey to the natural elements or the natural life cycle. But in captivity I am certain that she has a lot more years, so we?ll be proudly celebrating a lot more birthdays with April.?

Kendra Griffith reporting for News 5.