Hicatee Awareness Month in the News

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Hicatee Awareness Month in the News!

Jaren Serano, Jules Vasquez and Nelly Cadle at the TV 7 News studio

HCRC Manager, Thomas Pop, Field Course Leader, Nelly Cadle, and Science & Education Fellow, Jaren Serano had the distinct honor of being interviewed about BFREE, the HCRC, and all things Hicatee on news outlets thoughout Belize during October. We are thrilled that the media helped in bringing positive attention to work being done at the HCRC and the campaign to save the Hicatee. The preparation Tom, Nelly & Jaren did to present the awareness campaign on TV was commendable and they did a wonderful job representing BFREE.   

Talk Ah Di Town by PGTV News Network

Hicatee’s Survived The Dinosaurs But Not Modern Belize by 7 News Belize

October is Hicatee Awareness Month by Krem Television 

Belize Celebrates Hicatee Awareness Month by Love FM 

Belize Celebrates Hicatee Awareness Month by Ambergris Caye Forum 

Belize Celebrates Hicatee Awareness Month by Breaking Belize News

Professional Development for HCRC Staff

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Tom had the opportunity to help with not only turtles, but also iguanas and crocodiles. 

Thomas Pop, Manager of the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center, visited the Cayo District for one week in September to receive training at the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic (BWRC).

BWRC offers free training for governmental and non-governmental partners in wildlife conservation issues, rescue and rehabilitation, wildlife husbandry, emergency response and more. Depending on needs they include some clinical applications as well as basic laboratory methods (with a special focus on parasitology, and fecal analysis which is so often needed in any captive or rescued wildlife species.)

The emphasis of Tom’s training was on microscopy and parasitology

While at the BWRC, Tom was exposed to veterinary techniques that will prove very useful for his work with Hicatee turtles. Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand described Tom as “an enthusiastic learner, with an interest in parasites!”

We are grateful to Dr. Isabelle and her team at the BWRC for hosting Tom and look forward to future opportunities and exchanges. We are also grateful to our partner, the Turtle Survival Alliance, for subsidizing travel costs.

Bi-annual Hicatee Health Assessments at BFREE

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Dr. Isabelle and Dr. Jacobson do a full health review of a one-year-old Hicatee turtle

A team of veterinarians, zookeepers, researchers, and wildlife enthusiasts traveled to BFREE to perform health assessments on the turtles at the Hicatee Conservation and Research Center.  Our fall health check occurs when females likely have eggs, which allows the team to perform ultrasounds and determine the reproductive status of the turtles.

Health Assessment Team: Back row (L to R) Elliott Jacobson, Cayle Pearson, Isabelle Paquet-Durand, Rich Zerilli, Stephanie Verhulst, Nichole Bishop. Front row – Heather Barrett, Saul Bauer, Tom Pop, Jacob Marlin, and Jaren Serano (not pictured Eric Anderson and Gianni Martinez)

Day 1 Examinations were performed on the 2017 and 2018 hatchlings. Under the guidance of Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, a veterinarian at Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic (BWRC), and Dr. Elliott Jacobson, professor and veterinarian emeritus at University of Florida, each juvenile was weighed, measured and given a thorough exam which included careful assessment of warts and abscesses identified during previous examinations. Overall, turtles showed positive growth rates and reduction in skin problems.

The 2018 hatchlings were examined next – the veterinarians reviewed each of the 169 turtles which had already been weighed and measured on the 4th of September. Hatchlings also showed positive growth and good overall health.

Day 2 Adults and sub-adults were netted from Pond B in the morning and Pond A in the afternoon. Forty-four animals were measured and weighed and given general health examinations. All breeding sized females also underwent ultrasounds to determine the presence of follicles and eggs. One of the adult turtles eluded the nets, as did all the captive-born three and four-year-olds.

Gianni Martinez, teacher at St. Mary’s School in Belize City and author of “Herbert the Hickatee” joined the assessments on Day 2. 

Day 3 –  Because Dr. Jacobson was on-site to offer professional development training to HCRC staff, he presented a talk on “Zoological Medicine,” to the group.  Other lectures he gave throughout the weekend included “Animal Husbandry,” and “Reptile Collecting and Field Methods.”

Data collected during these assessments will add to the ongoing data set being constructed by staff of the HCRC.

Additional photos of the Fall Health Check can be found here: Flickr page.

Thanks to the Turtle Survival Alliance for providing funding for the Fall Health Assessments, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens for loaning the portable ultrasound machine, and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for providing turtle diet for continued feeding experimentation on the hatchlings. Additionally, thanks the team who contributed time, energy and knowledge to this fall’s assessment: Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, Dr. Elliott Jacobson, Thomas Pop, Jaren Serano, Nichole Bishop, Saul Bauer, Cayle Pearson, Stephanie Verhulst, Gianni Martinez, Richard Zerilli, Eric Anderson, Jacob Marlin, Heather Barrett and Hyla Marlin.

Soaring with Solar

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After 23 years of BFREE being an off-the-grid solar powered field station, nothing has changed, except now we have a centralized 7.5 kw state of the art solar system which is 7 -10 times more productive and has energy storage capacity more than 20 times what was on-site before. The system also has a backup autofunctioning natural gas generator for times when the sun just isn’t shining.

The system was designed by Rick Groves of Clean Energy Events based in Wilmington, N.C., USA, and Jacob Marlin. Additional design and technical assistance was provided by Wes Gubitz, as well as Marco Valle of Pro Solar Engineering based in Belmopan, Belize.

The installation took place during the first week of March. Pro Solar staff installed the photovoltaic panels, batteries, inverters, and controllers as well as the backup generator while Jacob Marlin, Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr, plus all the staff of BFREE  laid wire and set up breaker boxes at various locations around BFREE. Of course, there were weeks of prep work in advance with BFREE staff digging trenches and pouring cement footings for the installation of panels, a cinder block and cement generator house, and a power house that houses all of the electrical components (the brains of the system).

During the week of installation, everyone around the field station stepped up to help. Even students from Lees-McRae College pitched in during their field course when it was time to pull wire across the garden. After the installation, Pro Solar Engineer, Marco Valle, returned to BFREE to offer an afternoon training session on renewable energy and maintenance of the system for staff. 

In the coming months, power will continue to reach additional buildings around the field station and all visitors will begin to benefit from this important and timely upgrade. This includes more lighting, fans, charging stations, and a multitude of other improvements to the infrastructure of the field station.

BFREE wishes to express much gratitude to Rick Groves, Wes Gubitz, Glen Dell, and Beth Furr for their hard work, and positive attitude to ensure the installation went perfectly! The Pro Solar team was extremely professional and skilled. The resulting system has surpassed our expectations and we are thrilled by the immediate and obvious benefits to all station users. 

Special thanks to Dr. James Rotenberg and students in his Fall 2016 Environmental Studies class at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. They created an initial design for the solar system as part of their semester long project on sustainability.

Hicatee T-Shirts Support HCRC

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Buy a T-Shirt, Help #SaveTheHicatee! 

We are so excited about our new partnership with WildStuff Apparel! WildStuff is a US-based t-shirt company that supports artists from around the globe with an end goal of giving back to conservation. We are thrilled that they have chosen to support Hicatee Awareness Month by creating a one-of-a-kind t-shirt in honor of National Hicatee Day on October 17th! 

WildStuff Apparel will donate 100% of the proceeds back to the Hicatee Conservation & Research Center (HCRC) to support the ongoing research, education, and rehabilitation of the critically endangered Central American River Turtle. 

Not all heroes wear capes, #HicateeHeroes wear WildStuff.

Show your support for Hicatee Awareness Month and grab yourself a t-shirt today! Wear it proudly knowing that 100% of your money will be donated to help #SaveTheHicatee! 

Buy your National Hicatee Day T-Shirt Here!