July and August being mostly dead because of the extreme
humidity. Every dollar donated to the Red Wolves pro-
gramme (which is federally sponsored) goes directly to
animal preservation. In addition, Ben details his annual
goals as $2,000 (AUD2,824) to the Cheetah Conservation
Fund, $2,000 for the International Rhino Foundation, and
$2,000 to Project Heloderma.
“With the GBLs, for $2K I get protection for the animals,
but Guatemalans in the area get clean water and housing
too.” He brushes some sand from his hands. “This is the
best example of how to take conservation and help a
community.”
‘Project Heloderma
purchased an initial
parcel of 220 acres
in 2006-7, and an
additional 250 acres
in 2015.’
Dr Brad Lock, the Director of Guatemalan Programs at the
International Reptile Conservation Foundation (IRCF),
oversees Project Heloderma, working with the local
government in the endemic distribution. An initial parcel of
about 220 acres (89ha.) of land was purchased in the
Motagua Valley in 2006-2007, and an additional 250 acres
(101ha.) of quality habitat just adjacent was added in 2015.
Fencing of the newly-created Reserva Heloderma employed
rural peasants, offering a short-lived boost to regional
economy.
The programme offers educational workshops with live-
animal interaction (to help allay villagers’ apprehensions),
excursions into the field, and numerous conservation
activities. Townsfolk participate in field surveying, planting
trees, and assisting with the captive-breeding project. Team
members from the various organizations visit all the
surrounding schools every year, encouraging continued
education, and have even begun a scholarship program. As
a tangible incentive to the farmers who work the same
fields inhabited by the GBLs, residents receive a basket of
food staples - sugar, salt, black beans, coffee, rice and flour
- for every specimen they render to the research station for
measuring and recording. A cycle of hope was initialized
when Una Casa Para Cada Hogar (A House for Every
Home) was launched in 2013. This scheme promises one
modest, yet well-built, home for a deserving family every
year, to be constructed by the locals using homegrown
materials. The criteria for selection: those families in the
direst need, especially ones with young girls, since these are
the households, in Guatemala, that are at greatest risk.
Over the past ten years or so, the native populations have
bonded with the conservation teams – a win/win for the
guatemaltecos and the herpetofauna. Ben Roberts elaborates;
“Since most imports of animals arrive by commercial plane,
costing an exorbitant amount for the transportation, it’s
usually simply too expensive to breed and release, so in this
case, we donate to Project Heloderma which then sends the
money to Guatemala, where it’s needed.”
Ben informs us that he needs to be on his way; five months
after Hurricane Michael razed three of his largest and/or
most popular exhibits - the alligators, the Red Wolves, and
the lemurs - there are still massive, ongoing clean-up
efforts in progress. Many of Chehaw’s animals have been in
holding cells since two days prior to the arrival of the
Category 4 storm.
We bid good-bye first to our gracious host, then to Esteban
the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard and his cage-mate. I watch
with fascination as that piston-like forked tongue continues
to flick in and out, almost rhythmically. Tasting the air, I
remind myself. Checking for the presence of food…. Apparently,
I must have my own vomeronasal receptors too, because I
have absolutely no difficulty at all sensing the presence of
food. Hanging on to that thought, I head back towards the
aviary, where Gustavo is already snapping photographs of
the occupants, including a Blue-Winged Kookaburra, which
looks strangely out of place here.
Chehaw Park, 105 Chehaw Park Road, Albany, GA, USA;
telephone: 229-430-5275; website: www.chehaw.org.