belize

The tropical Central American country of Belize is home to five species of wild cat: jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay and jaguarundi. You can see images of each species in the above slideshow.

 These 5 species of cats have learned to co-exist in the same area by eating different prey and keeping out of each others way. Such a large variety of cats in such a small geographical area is amazing! 

 ​​Each species plays a vital role in maintaining healthy prey density, with the smaller cats controlling rodent populations. Rodents carry diseases that can be transferred to humans and rodents eat a lot of plant life. If the rodent population were to skyrocket due to the absence of small wild cats, plant life would dwindle and diseases would run rampant. 

Belize is a country about the size of Massachusetts and is located in Central America along the caribbean coast. It is an English speaking country and is fairly safe to travel in.  The human population is mainly in three cities and along the coast, leaving the mountainous interior somewhat untouched and wild. This untouched area serves as a wildlife corridor for animals to travel between southern Mexico and Central America.  

Like other developing countries Belize is feeling the stress of population increase which in turn destroys the wild habitat range. The main source of income for most Belizeans is farming. To make more money to support their families they are slashing and burning more jungles. This is where the issue lies......and that is why we are gathering credible data and working with the local government and communities to practice mutually beneficial conservation plans to help ensure Belize's wildlife remains wild with plenty of habitat to live in and expand on.

In Belize there are easy to get to lively communities and there are very quiet remote communities. Each community has its own type of conflict with wildlife. We listen to what their needs are, explain the importance of keeping wild cats around and we give them the tools they need to help them co-exist with wild cats. 

Teaching people about the importance of the wildlife that surrounds them is key to getting them to respect and live with wildlife. We educate children in schools, we hand out educational materials for teachers to use in the schools we can't get to, we install informational road signs and we do public events to raise awareness.

In order to provide current information in the above categories we need to continue 24/7 field research. This data is used to update educational material, help us understand what areas of the country need help and what areas are doing good, and the data is used to analyze wild cat behavior so we can improve on conservation efforts throughout the country.