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The Baird’s Tapir is Belize’s national animal but April the tapir is more than just a postage stamp – she’s a celebrity! Tens of thousands of visitors have seen her at the Belize Zoo where she gets top billing. But for all her fame, April – from all outward indications – remains humble. In fact when we visited the 25 year old today at her birthday party – she was kicking back, tapir style. Jacqueline Godwin reports.

Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
No animal draws more spectators to its cage at the Belize Zoo than April the tapir especially on this day when the famous mountain cow is celebrating its 25th birthday.

[Students Singing ‘Happy Birthday’]

And it should have been a celebration because tapirs in the wild normally do not live beyond twenty years. But April was raised in captivity and zoo keepers expect her to be around for at least five more years.

While April enjoyed her usual big treats that included the birthday cake made of horse chow trimmed with peanut butter, carrots and cabbage, this year’s bash was more meaningful because it raised the awareness of the threats that presently confront the tapir.

Not because Belize enjoys a healthy population of animals like April the tapir that means we should become complacent. On February sixth this mature female tapir – which is believed to have been pregnant - was knocked down on the Burrell Boom Road. The animal was most likely forced out of its habitat due to land clearing and development in the area.

Sharon Matola, Executive Director - Belize Zoo
“Unsound development that takes away their habitat without no consideration for the animal and of course unchecked hunting. People will hunt just to hunt and there is nothing wrong with hunting as long as you hunt the things that are not endangered. I mean instead of a tapir can you grow a chicken. I mean nobody eats tapirs so why shoot them. It seems like a waste of time, energy and show of bad principle.”

In Belize much work has been done to raise the awareness of tapirs, and unlike other countries in the region where indigenous tapirs have all disappeared, it is hoped that with a continued strong support for habitat preservation and conservation animals such as the tapir and the jaguar will be around for a very long time.

And that’s probably why April did not mind having Elvin Penner the Minister of State in the Ministry of Natural Resources by her side during the celebration.

Elvin Penner, Minister of State in Natural Resources
“I think we will have to be committed because especially the tapir being our national animal, we cannot afford it to ever become extinct in the wild. Like mentioned before, it is a natural heritage and like I said it is more than just a national animal and myself, I have always been a lover of nature, I have always been a lover of adventure in terms of going out in the jungle hoping to some day spot a tapir wild. And the only way we will ever get a chance to do so will be if we really preserve it and make sure that the public out there knows that it is not only not recommended to hunt these animals. I believe it is actually illegal because it is at the verge of becoming extinct.

We are also experiencing and will continue to experience some serious issues when it comes to climate change in the environment. So if we don’t take these issues seriously, we will only get hurt in the future.”

He may just be over a year old but this jaguar affectionately named Junior is quickly gaining ground on April in terms of just how many people he has been able to attract.

Celso Poot, Education Director – Belize Zoo
“Junior is the attraction at the zoo right now. He is very friendly, due to the fact that he was hand raised by the zoo director and zoo keepers. And most people who are coming to the zoo now actually look for Junior; Junior is well known.

The story behind Junior is that her mother was a sheep killer. She was captured in the problem jaguar rehabilitation program we have here at the zoo and lo and behold we were not aware that Junior’s mother was pregnant. One morning the zoo keepers went into the management den and found her with two cubs. She did not care for the cubs so the zookeepers had to hand feed, bottle feed the cubs until he is where he is right now.”

And it has been hard for most visitors to resist getting up close to April the tapir and Junior the jaguar that keep the zoo employees on their feet.

Celso Poot,
“Remember all of our animals are wild animals. They have that wild instinct in them so we don’t encourage anybody to try and pet and that is the reason we have all the barriers you see because people do get tempted to try and touch the animal. We have incidents where we find people trying to scrub April, scrub April’s belly and do all kind of things because they are friendly animals but they also have wild instincts. And even though we warn people not to do it, they still.”

Jacqueline Godwin for 7NEWS.

In 1983, April was taken to the Belize Zoo almost dead from screwworm infestation. Sharon Matola, nursed her back to health and the rest, as they say, is history.