Close encounters of the cute kind

It’s not every day you can bottle-feed a manatee, but that’s something a recent Victoria University of Wellington graduate can tick off her list.

Anna McKenzie-Pollock with a monkey.

Anna McKenzie-Pollock has a degree in ecology, biodiversity and biology from Victoria, and she is currently employed as a ranger at Wellington Zoo.

Earlier this year she was granted paid conservation leave by the zoo and embarked on a month-long volunteering stint at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Central America.

“I had been wanting to do something overseas, to give back to conservation—I just love monkeys, so wanted to find somewhere I could work with them,” says Anna. “I looked online and found out about Wildtracks in Belize, which rehabilitates mostly monkeys and manatees. A lot of the animals are pets that have been confiscated, or they have been orphaned or injured and are brought to the centre, where they are helped to prepare for being returned to the wild.”

Anna says the days were long but the work was very rewarding. “I worked 12 hours a day doing things like preparing food for the animals, feeding them and some cleaning as well.”

Belize has two native species of primates, Yucatan black howler monkeys and Geoffroy’s spider monkeys—these species made up the majority of the primates at Wildtracks.

“I was in charge of creating enrichment for the monkeys—providing them with mental and physical stimulation with different objects and activities, to help them learn new skills and practice for being back out in the wild,” says Anna.

In addition, Anna was responsible for the care of a white faced capuchin monkey called Nikki. “She was a former pet and was not originally from Belize, so will not be re-released. But that meant she was allowed human contact, so I was able to be really hands-on with her which was very important as she’s such a social animal. Nikki was one of my favourites—she was really cute and intelligent and I loved coming up with new enrichment challenges for her each day.”

Wildtracks was also temporary home to five manatees, which are large, vegetarian marine mammals that can weigh nearly 600 kilograms when fully grown.

“They would all be bottle-fed at regular intervals, so I’d make up their specific formula and give them their milk. They also loved to eat banana leaves, water hyacinths and sea grass, which we collected.

“We would also swim with the manatees several times a day to keep them active and for them to have some contact and companionship,” says Anna. “The Manatees are such gentle creatures and it was really rewarding and a wonderful opportunity to be able to work with them.

“I’d learnt a lot about conservation in my degree at Victoria so being able to experience it first-hand in such a unique environment was amazing,” says Anna.

More information about Anna’s work can be found on Wellington Zoo’s blog: www.wellingtonzoo.tumblr.com and information about Wildtracks Belize can be found on their website: www.wildtracksbelize.org