Cage Cleaning

Monday, July 9^th

As I have mentioned before, the park keeps freshwater turtles and iguanas that have been confiscated by the police. Over the past week, the other volunteers and I noticed that the cages the animals are kept in could use some work. For the most part, they consist of a water pool, feeding area, and dirt. There aren’t really any natural fixtures in the cages, so we decided to recreate their natural habitats to the best of our ability.

We started with the iguanas’ cage. We raked all the leaves and old food from the dirt, and then we removed some rotting wood that they had been using to sun themselves. We replaced the wood with new branches, and then fashioned them in a way which they could climb and sun themselves better. Next, we added some rocks for additional sunning spots. Finally, we planted small coconut trees throughout the cage. It ended up looking so much better than when we started. Almost as soon as we left the cage, they started climbing on their new branches. For the most part, they are pretty timid and rarely come out of their corner hiding spots, so the fact that they came out so quickly seems to tell me that they like their new habitat. 

For the turtles, we did more of an overhaul. We emptied out their water pool and scrubbed the bottom. We also raked and planted more coconut trees. Pulling from my own experience with caring for a tortoise, we created a spot in the corner filled with dry leaves so that the few tortoises we have could bury themselves.  Almost as soon as we made it, they started making their way towards the leaves! Next, we built more steps for them to reach their water pool because many of the smaller turtles would struggle to make it in and out of the pool. Finally, we scrubbed each and every turtle shell because they were covered with algae. It was pretty sad actually. We also convinced the park director, Glenda, to let us release more turtles into the mangroves, so they wouldn’t get to that algae covered state again. Sorry for the slightly blurry pictures...I didn't realize there was stuff on my camera lens until after we were done.

 Before: A turtle covered in algae

 After: A clean turtle! 

Me cleaning one of the little guys!

All the animals looked so much happier after we fixed their cages! So far, this has been the most rewarding day of my stay here because I felt like I actually made a positive difference in these animals’ lives. I need days like this especially because the situation with the sea turtles is so frustrating at times.