By Dr. Marisa Tellez | Executive Director and Founder
Save a Species and Revive Culture in Belize
April 2025 - July 2025
In the beginning of April, we received notification from The Belize Zoo and Belize Forest Department about the confiscation of a 7ft Morelet’s crocodile from an illegal wildlife trade event. The CRC visited the croc that was currently residing at the zoo to acquire morphological data and determine the health of the crocodile. Given the lack of teeth, and some wounds, we could tell this crocodile had been in captivity for a very long time in very poor conditions. The crocodile had been mistreated very poorly, not fed properly, and likely abused, living in a very stressful environment. At this time, CRC did not have a proper enclosure to put for this animal, because given its health and abuse, we wanted a small enclosure to put him in so we can monitor his health.
Luckily, we had one of our older enclosures that would be a perfect size for the animal we named Tata, a Q’eqchi’ Maya name for “grandfather.” However, the fence was broken as well as the door, but thanks to funds from GlobalGiving, we had the funds to give this enclosure an upgrade! Thanks to our local construction crew, they were able to fix the fencing and door within 1 day, which was perfect timing as we had a deadline to get Tata to his new home. Currently, Tata is very frightened of people, and being very shy, only eating when we are not around. This is normal for crocs who come under our care, as many have a bad history with humans being intolerant of them, so they associate humans with being abused. It can take 3-9months for them to finally feel comfortable and start showing themselves to their new caretakers. At the moment, Tata is still shy.
Thank you to all who have donated towards our project through GlobalGiving. We hope we continue to raise more funds so we can create an enclosure for a future headstart program for American crocodiles. American crocodiles are considered Critically Endangered in Belize, and they need a bit of help reestablishing their population. We hope as we work with other partners and conserve more land, crocodiles and other wildlife can continue for future generations.
We are very grateful to all of those that have donated and are willing to help us create a place of education, tolerance, and empathy towards crocodiles and all wildlife along with exciting the next generation about science and conservation! Furthermore, this project will help us revive lost generational tolerance and culture that was tied to crocodiles and their environment. Thank you all so much for sinking your teeth into conservation with the CRC and Belize!
Dr. Marisa Tellez and the CRC team
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