Armed in their snake boots, three young information technology students and a forester traverse the country rescuing wildlife from people who hunt them for food.
Kristopher Rattansingh, 23, his brother Kristian, 17, Taariq Ali, 18, and forester, Kishan Ramcharan, 33, of the newly-formed group, Wildlife and Environmental Protection of T&T (WEPTT), are on a desperate mission to regain lost harmony between humans and the animal kingdom in T&T.
They have found there is a “great need” to protect the island’s wildlife, they said, which is becoming increasingly targeted by wildmeat lovers.
WEPTT staged a sting operation with the police to rescue a protected snake from being sold to a restaurant for $250, helped save a bottle-nosed dolphin reportedly dragged ashore by its tail by a fisherman to be eaten and protected a lost baby silky anteater from poachers.
They rehabilitate and liberate injured hummingbirds and caimans driven out their habitat by floodwaters into people’s backyards. Injured animals are taken to an animal rehabilitation centre and after healing are released into wildlife sanctuaries or forested areas.
Since they formed the group last year, a few days before the October 2 opening of the hunting season, the young men have been on numerous animal rescue missions.
Recalling some major expeditions, they said on December 21 Avinash Ramnarine contacted WEPTT saying he rescued a macajuel. “He was driving in New Grant when he saw some men wrestling a six-foot snake into a bag with the intention of selling it to a restaurant for $250.
“Ramnarine approached the men and pleaded with them to release the snake but they refused. He is a burly guy and would not accept no for an answer and they eventually handed over the snake.”
Ali said snakes are legally protected by T&T’s laws and anyone who interferes with or kills one can be arrested and fined over $1,000.
“The snake, a macajuel, is undergoing rehabilitation and will be released next week.”
Another time, WEPTT heard someone in Rio Claro had killed a nine-foot macajuel and taken it home to cook and eat it. They conducted a sting operation with the Rio Claro police and got the man arrested.
“I went to his home undercover as a snake skin buyer,” Ramcharan said. “He said he also had another snake he had killed earlier. Asked what he did with the flesh, he said, ‘eat it’. He said it tastes like shark.”
Ramcharan said snakes are a popular undercover delicacy in T&T. “People make macajuel broth.”
The police charged the man $1,000 for each snake. A highnote of WEPTT’s expeditions was assisting in the rescue of an adult bottle-nosed dolphin in Orange Valley on October 3. Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Papa Bois Conservation and El Socorro Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre also helped in that rescue.
“We heard a fisherman had dragged the dolphin several miles from the ocean, possibly for consumption.
“He was in a rocky, slushy area near the beach, disoriented and stressed and kept coming back to shore. He didn’t have the strength to swim.”
When the dolphin was attended to, WEPTT and the other groups chartered a fishermen, put the dolphin on a specialised stretcher and towed him back to the ocean.
“He was quiet, as if he knew what was going on. When we released him, he became really playful and kept circling the boat.”
WEPTT liberated caimans trapped in a resident’s yard in Valsayn. “Caimans are just like the American croc and can bite off a finger if provoked.
“This one had reached inside the dog kennel. We took him out and released him in the Caroni Swamp.”
“Caimans are also game species and are hunted with a permit during the hunting season for food,” Kristopher said.
WEPTT rescued a baby silky anteater from someone’s backyard and released it in an undisclosed sanctuary. On WEPTT’s Facebook’s page, the anteater is seen gratefully scrambling up the tree, curling up and going fast asleep. The young men saved this animal from poachers who hunt it for consumption.
On Thursday night, Petrotrin employee Matthew Teelucksingh raced from his Point Fortin hometown along the highways to Chaguanas to meet WEPTT with a tiny hummingbird he had picked up on the road. “The bird seemed dazed as he if had knocked into something,” Kristopher said.
WEPTT is calling for a revision of hunting legislation which, at present, does not limit how many animals can be hunted. They also want the laws updated to protect more wildlife species.