British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) working to protect endangered wildlife

The initiative is part of a 3-year programme to ensure essential military training does not disturb local habitats.

During the summer time, cameras that were set to photograph wildlife were destroyed.

New cameras were acquired to continue the program and capture the images of animals in Mountain Pine Ridge forest reserve.

The images show lions, jaguars and ocelots in the heart of the jungle.

Defence Minister of the United Kingdom, Jeremy Quin said that the dedication and teamwork between British Army Training Support Unit Belize, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Panthera demonstrates the diverse and far-reaching benefits of UK armed forces operating around the world.

“This is another example of the resourcefulness of our armed forces and their partners: their efforts have shown the conservation benefits of our Belize jungle training,” he added.

Panthera is dedicated to the research and conservation of big cats, with a £14 million research programme in locations across Asia, the Americas and Africa.

Panthera Lead Research Biologist Emma Sanchez thanked the British Army Training Support Unit Belize and Defence Infrastructure Organisation on behalf of Panthera for providing the extremely useful replacements of the damaged camera units to our project.

Since 1994, BATSUB has been in Belize making significant contributions to protecting the environment through monitoring wildlife, planting trees and collecting data.

 “We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and we work hard to ensure that our training is conducted in accordance with the strictest Host Nation environmental policies and in tandem with our colleagues in the DoE, Forestry Department, Panthera, FCD and the many other environmental stakeholders, who work in support of environmental conservation,” BATSUB commander, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Nichols, MBE, said

The training takes place across a network of government and privately-owned land, alongside the BDF and other foreign forces.