While on a croc call Vince rescues a Collared anteater. The little girl is slightly injured, apparently from a dog attack. Additionally, she appears to have been a pet due to her behavior. Tomorrow Vince will carry her to the Belize Forest Department in Belmopan where Wildlife Officer Rasheda Garcia and the Belize Wildlife Conservation Network vet Dr. Paquet will assess her. Hopefully she will be rehabilitated and released.



Click Here for more pics....

Super cool creature on Ambergris Caye, rarely seen as they live in trees and in the Mangal. Recently lots of conflict with the increased dog population.
Interesting to see you handle it barehanded, I was afraid of the powerful sharp claws.
These guys are cute as hell! AKA 'Tamandua' eat termites from the nest.
Hope they manage to continue living on the island with all the developments and dogs.

ACES rescues Tia the Anteater in San Juan

A Collard Anteater or Tamandua, was rescued in San Juan on Sunday night, May 6th, thanks to the quick response of wildlife specialists Vince and Cherie Rose, of ACES, the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary. The little critter is now receiving care at the TAMANDUA World rehabilitation facility in the Cayo District.

The Collared Anteater is not commonly seen on the island but at times has been reported roaming the streets in the less traveled areas of town as well as the northern area of Ambergris Caye. It is a nocturnal, terrestrial and solitary creature which lives in trees and is found in Central and South America. As its name suggests, it feeds mainly on ants, termites and bees extracted after ripping apart their nests with their fore-claws. The average size of a Collard Anteater is around 23 inches in body length; while the tail would range around 19 inches with an average weight of about 13lbs.

The suffering Anteater, affectionately dubbed “Tia” (Aunt in Spanish) was found in San Juan under a London bridge in polluted water. According to Cherie, ACES was on a crocodile call in the area, when the little critter was found dehydrated, and apparently very tired. Her tail was bleeding from about three places and appeared to have bite marks, slightly healed, on her nose and neck.

ACES took in the suffering “Tia”, gave her fresh water and harbored her at their home. Cherie informed that Tia spent Sunday night at their house and slept a lot. On Monday ACES travelled north and cut down a termite nest and collected the insects for her to eat. Sure enough Tia gobbled up the termites and by Monday night she began to show signs of recovery, scampering around the house, finding her way through locked doors and creeping around exploring. “I did not apply topical antibiotics to her injuries because being an anteater, I didn’t know her tolerance if she was to lick at it with her long tongue. I called the Belize Forest Department (BFD) and talked to Wildlife Officer Rasheda Sampson-Garcia and I also notified Dr. Isabelle-Paquet from the Belize Wildlife Conservation Network.”

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

This little girl has captured my heart.....I'm glad to see she is receiving such good care.

Ditto! Thank you ACES, once again.

Tia the Tamandua Returns to the Wild

Following the anteaters’ health assessment Ella Baron from TAMANDUA World in the Cayo District took her under her care and on May 8th Baron reported to The Sun that the anteater had a good appetite, which was a good sign. Baron further observed that Tia had injuries to her back leg and major hair loss around her body most likely due to having rope around her body by people who illegally had her as a pet. In a Facebook post on May 11th Baron wrote, “….she [Tia] sleeps where she eats, wakes up periodically to get a few more termites and goes back to sleep…we finished a “fall proof” remodeling of the enclosure for the tamandua/anteater and managed to have her drink all her homeopathic medicines, vitamins – mixed with coconut water, but not in any container, she only drinks it straight from the coconut…from observing her for few days I can see how much damage was done to her, I finally understand where all the little wounds are from- she drags her dislocated leg a bit, and since it was not designed to be dragged- skin is very sensitive and breaks.. I can see a battered tamandua…but she has no anger in her.”

n early June, Baron posted, “…she has now been in our care for almost one month. The broken paw seems much better and a lot of other injuries are healing as well, including small wounds. She is very happy, active- spends her days tearing apart 40-50 lb. termite nests, and then sleeps guarding them and she started developing better movements with her legs.”

Over the next several months Baron remained committed to the rehabilitation of the injured anteater, even traveling as far as Columbia in mid-June to attend a seminar on the rehabilitation of sloth, armadillos and anteaters. Throughout this time Tia’s health continued to improve and slow steps were made to reacquaint her with life in the wild. Baron posted Tia’s progress on her Facebook page and included animated photos of the little anteater that had captured the hearts of many.

Four months later, on September fifth the fully recovered tamandua was released back into the jungle of Cayo where she demonstrated all of the traits a wild anteater needs to possess in order to survive. With photos on Facebook and videos posted on YouTube Baron documented the moment where Tia returned to her proper home, healthy and clearly adept at living in the wild.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see LOTS AND LOTS more photos in the San Pedro Sun

Such an excellent happy ending! Heartwarming!

very cute little guy....you guys rock