Monkey business!

On Saturday while The San Pedro Sun was busy assisting the ACES crew with relocating the crocodile, police officers responded to a report of an animal disturbance at a resort down south. Reports claim that on Saturday July 19th, a tourist by the name of Laura Sutton was attacked and bitten by a monkey reportedly belonging to Marina’s Grocery in San Pedro Town. Sutton received numerous bite marks to both arms, along with several scrapes and scratches for which she got medical treatment. Sutton was not the only victim as the monkey also attacked Belizean American Lisa Ali at the Banyan Bay facilities. Ali was treated for wounds to her left leg and received nine stitches. When The Sun arrived at the scene at Banana Beach on Saturday, Pancho, the monkey was suspended on the verandah of the resort where an individual was trying to coerce the monkey to come down. After several futile attempts, a ploy to attract the monkey with food and then trap it with a cloth went awry as the monkey hissed at him signaling another attack. After it was becoming too much of a nuisance, the police decided to take matters into their own hands and struck the monkey on the head hoping that it would knock him out, instead the blow proved to be fatal as Pancho succumbed to his injuries.

Beware!

Come on little guy, i won't hurt you!

Several attempts to get him down proved futile.

Pancho was convinced that he was the ruler of that porch and no one would get him down.

Placing a cloth over Pancho to capture it failed miserably also.

Feeding Pancho a snack to calm him down.

Swinging away like monkeys do, not a care in the world.

NEMO steps up!

NEMO District Coordinator, Kevin Gonzalez.

The San Pedro Emergency Committee in conjunction with NEMO San Pedro and Caye Caulker has launched a series of public information measures to better inform the public of hurricane preparedness. This week, the District Coordinator along with volunteers posted a series of large hurricane preparedness posters at the San Pedro Town Council bulletin board and in Government offices such as, Belize Post Office, Immigration, Customs, Labor, Election and Boundaries, to name a few. In addition, a set of new hurricane signal flags will be delivered to the San Pedro Police Department and it is planned to deliver over 2,500 Hurricane Preparedness Bulletins to businesses and households. Already NEMO San Pedro has secured a 10% discount from local business Castillo’s Hardware for emergency items such as flashlights, tarpaulins, plywood and other such related items.
NEMO San Pedro and the San Pedro Emergency Committee (SPEC) takes this opportunity to remind the public to insure that they continue to monitor weather activities daily and be prepared with their family plans.
For further information on Hurricane Preparedness visit the NEMO website at nemo.org.bz or you may contact the District Coordinator, Mr. Kevin Gonzalez at (610) 4266.

Pool Tournament Sundays

As a first installment since its re-opening, Casey Moore’s Boat Yard bar hosted an eight ball pool/billiards tournament on Sunday afternoon that proved a success and crowned the competitions first overall winner. With a mix of amateur and experienced players, the tournament saw ten participants sign up and take the challenge to win the pot of two hundred dollars at the end of the day. Robert collected the pot and will play against players in this coming Sunday’s tournament. Here are some highlights!

Evan cooks up a finger licking barbeque on Sundays!

Kids enjoying the company of pups!

These youngsters can't help but get a good view of the pool action.

Spectators watching from the sidelines.

Don taking his time to set up a good shot but El Campion continued to play a good game and won second place.

Emory was undisputed until the last games where he lost to "El campion".

Evan was also involved in the tournament but was unsuccessful.

Party goers mingling

Robert (the champ) setting up for a great shot!

Pool tournaments will take place every Sunday and it is only $20 to enter. With finger licking BBQ, drinks and kid friendly atmosphere, Casey's Boatyard is the place to be. Games start at 3:00 p.m.

Croc catch!

For some time now the Belize Forestry Department (BFD) has received complaints in regards to the crocodiles that are found living in the lake across from Banyan Bay, south of San Pedro Town. After accessing the situation, BFD determined that based on the increased population of people in the area, and eminent development, it was in the crocs’ and the community’s best interest to relocate them. Along with BFD staff, the department enlisted help from a team of biologists from the American Crocodile Endangered Sanctuary (ACES) located in Punta Gorda (PG), Toledo to implement the task of trapping and transporting the creatures back to the sanctuary in PG.

The Trap designed by the late, great Crocodile Hunter Steve Erwin.

Taking the bait, got ya!

Tying the snout shut.

Flipping the croc over for inspection of visible abuse and infection.

"This female crocodile had some bacterial infections on her skin, meaning that the water is extremely unhealthy. If an animal with the strongest immune system in the world is showing ill signs from water contamination, think what that water could do to people?" explained Marisa Tellez, "The community that helped should be proud as they saved a croc's life."

Although the population of crocs vary in the small lake, during the five days of trapping only one was spotted. It seemed that their goal would go unrealized when on their final day on the island, Saturday, July 19th, when the team went to gather their man-made trap, the crafty creature had taken the bait of chicken and was securely captured in the tented net that made up the trap.

After the careful process of securing the reptile, and with much help from the local community, the animal was finally loaded on a boat where it was transported to Belize City. From the City the ACES team drove the croc to PG where the croc is now adjusting well to her new home. For the full story please read the next issue of The San Pedro Sun on Thursday.

The ACES crew from left to right: Cherie, Marisa and Vincent. Kudos guys!

Town Meeting Tonight!!!

Special Community Meeting tonight Monday, July 21st, 7:00 p.m. at the San Pedro High School Auditorium.

This meeting is being in order to discuss the recent problems with crime that have been occurring in San Pedro and on Ambergris Caye.

The following people will be at this community meeting:

*Honorable Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation

*General Lloyd Gillet, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of National Security

*Lt. Colonel Omar Pullido from the Belize Defense Force

*Gerald Westby, Commissioner of Police

*Maureen Leslie, Deputy Commissioner of Police

*Cedric Borland, Commander of the Coast Guard.

It is important that as many people as possible attend this meeting.