Monkey Loving

Last night, all the volunteers to get a dinner out of the house and then hang out at a bar. We went to a small restaurant and took up the whole space. I got a Coke and a burger and it was probably one of the greatest Cokes of my life. I’ve only been here for five days but it’s been a very hot five days so it was great to have a cold drink. After dinner, we went to a pool bar and had a few local beers. The locals were pretty entertained by our dancing. We had to take a taxi back to Wildtracks, but we had twelve people so most of had to sit in the bed of the truck. It had stormed while we were at a bar so we had to clear a tree off the path. After breakfast, we had another Duke feed. He still hasn’t improved, but it’ll probably take about a week for the dewormer to work fully. While Paul was inserting the tube, two lung flukes, a type of parasite, came out. Paul gave the new volunteer and I a tour after lunch. He explained the mission of Wildtracks and explained how each of the facilities is used. Both the manatee and monkey rehabilitation programs were started by accident. The Belize government asked them if they would do it and they generously accepted the offer. Duke is on track to be released in about a year if his health improves and Twiggy should be released in the next couple of weeks. We also got a tour of the monkey rehabilitation facilities. Wildtracks rehabilitates spider and howler monkeys, both of which generally come from the illegal pet trade. Wildtracks mission is to eradicate the illegal pet trade in the next few years, so hopefully monkey rehabilitation will not be necessary in the future. I got to go in two different howler monkey enclosures. There was an older female and her adopted baby, Spartacus in the first. Spartacus had a lot of energy of was swinging everywhere and jumping on my head. I also got to go into the pre-release enclosure, with the three howlers scheduled to be released next May. Livvy immediately attached to me and just sat on my shoulders while I was hanging out in the enclosure. It was really interesting to hear all the monkeys’ stories and how they got to Wildtracks. All the monkeys were super cute and I may start assisting with monkey care in a little while.