Bernadette — best friend to the macaws

For a young girl growing up in the fifties, burrowing earthworms and playing with tadpoles were not the norm. But even more extraordinary was the excitement she felt when she came upon the skeletal remains of a dog.

She gingerly retrieved the jawbone, washed it and proudly took it home. “My mother was so upset — she told me that my hands would rot, and to teach me a lesson never to do such a thing again, she made me rub my hands with lime to scrub it all out! This however did not stop me,” she smiles. Today, Bernadette Coutain-Plair, a scientist in animal and plant physiology, is the Neotropical Conservation Programme Manager at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, USA; her special project currently being the Blue and Yellow Macaw reintroduction programme in the Nariva Swamp, their natural habitat.

Born in Sangre Grande, Bernadette had an inherent love for nature. When she was still very young, her family moved to La Brea to accommodate her father’s employment in the oilfield. She has extremely fond recollections of Saturday morning treks to the Pitch Lake, armed with bucket and shovel, picking mangoes on the way and being allowed to ‘dip’ in one of the many pools in the lake. On the return trip home, she would collect patties of cow manure for her mom’s numerous potted plants! “My mom had a real green thumb; she couldn’t grow plants in the garden because after all, the soil was covered with pitch, so she had lots of pots, gaily painted and decorating our entire yard. “In later years, I realised that I took her botanical skills for granted.” The eldest of seven siblings, Bernadette credits their success to the tremendous love, high values and devotion of her parents, who also provided a spiritual environment while they were growing up in difficult times.

Excellent performance at St Joseph’s Convent in San Fernando secured her a scholarship at the College of Mt St Joseph in Cincinnati where she majored in Biology. After a brief teaching sojourn in Trinidad, Bernadette returned to the USA and worked for years in human reproduction research. Working in the hospital in clinical microbiology, she became interested in human reproductive physiology. “At that time, in vitro fertilisation was new and we used animal models, mice and rats for our experiments.” This proved to be a stepping-stone to her present career in animal reproduction and her current project in Trinidad. Her vast experience includes a behavioural study of the first endangered Sumatran rhinoceros to be conceived and born in captivity in 112 years, at the Cincinnati Zoo in September 2001. Bernadette’s love for Trinidad consumed her work and so, while employed at the Zoo’s Centre for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW), and recalling a magnificent bird (the macaw) with which she was overwhelmed as a child, she decided to initiate a conservation organisation in Trinidad along the same lines as CREW. With the co-operation of local wildlife officials and some concerned citizens in the business and education sectors, the Centre for the Rescue of Endangered Species of Trinidad and Tobago (CREST) was established.

As Director of this organisation, Bernadette embarked on the Blue and Yellow Macaw reintroduction programme in the Nariva Swamp. She set up educational opportunities for local veterinarians, zookeepers and wildlife officials. After years of hard work, the pilot project finally got underway. “We located wild macaws caught in Guyana, where there exist licensed traders. The birds were sexed, tested for various avian diseases and 18 (nine potential pairs) were selected. The macaws were acclimatised in a large pre-release flight cage in the Nariva Swamp for four weeks before being released into the swamp,” Bernadette explains. This was done under constant monitoring by local villagers who are very proud and protective of this project in their community. A second phase of this scheme is currently in progress and 20 more wild macaws are being translocated from Guyana for release. When this phase is complete, captive-bred chicks will be used to supplement the wild population.

The tremendous success of this project has encouraged the Cincinnati Zoo to use it as a model for Third World conservation efforts. In 1999, the Zoo sponsored Bernadette to come to Trinidad for a six-week stint to set up a conservation education programme at the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port-of-Spain. Also a plant physiologist, she has collected and frozen several tropical plant species from the CREST land in Chaguaramas. How did this soft spoken, ever-smiling woman achieve so much? Her reply is spontaneous: “with total support and understanding from my husband. We met at university and by the time we graduated he was already sold on Trinidad. He visited and gained quite an appreciation for my culture. I cannot understand how, of all the people in the world, God picked this one person for me, someone who shares such similar values with me. Since his retirement, he has taken charge of everything at home including all the housework I did when our kids were growing up. The amazing thing is that his background although growing up in the United States, is so similar to what I grew up with in Trinidad. To find that one person with such a high level of compatibility is pretty remarkable. We have three wonderful children — all highly accomplished and caring individuals who have given me unstinting support in all my life’s works. I think the world of them, but the apple of my eye is my three-year-old grandchild! Our children love Trinidad; they feel a part of both cultures,” she chuckles.

She considers herself very lucky and cherishes the friendships she has developed over the years. During her visits to Trinidad she tries to keep in contact with these friends who continue to be supportive of her efforts. Family members, too, have rallied around during her many projects lending total support and encouragement. Bernadette considers the people in the villages surrounding the Nariva Swamp as her family also. “They are my substitute family — my heart is out there. I feel very comfortable when I am with them, even if it means sleeping in a hammock. I know that this project could not have succeeded without them. I feel very sympathetic towards these people. They are out in the swamp, even on Christmas day, watching those birds for me. This time I’m releasing the birds in October so these ‘helpers’ won’t have to be away from home and in the swamp at Christmas time.” The warmth she exudes is very genuine. For Bernadette, achieving lifelong friendships comes naturally. Of immense joy is being able to have the better of two worlds viz Trinidad and the USA. She is in a position to utilise the expertise accrued over the years and transfer this knowledge to her still beloved Trinidad. She acknowledges the assistance she got from the Forestry Division, especially the Wildlife Section, CREST members, and friends and private donors in the United States who have supported this programme.

Bernadette’s programme at the Cincinnati Zoo has expanded to allow her the flexibility to work in Costa Rica, Guyana and Trinidad. She has set up an exchange programme where local zookeepers get an opportunity to rotate in different departments at the Cincinnati Zoo, and two zookeepers from there similarly have spent time at our zoo. “The Blue and Gold Macaw is indigenous to the Nariva Swamp in Trinidad because of the habitat and food found specifically in that area. In the late 1960s, they disappeared from the Nariva Swamp, victims of poaching and illegal rice farming. “Since these majestic macaws are so beautiful and can mimic what we say, many people buy them to keep as pets, especially the young ones because they can be trained. My director at CREW really pushed for support of this programme. The Cincinnati Zoo has now committed to this programme, which is my own little project. We are one of only five projects globally chosen by this Zoo. The programme has really evolved and finally, in the last two or three years I have gotten increasing financial support from this Zoo.” CREST recently launched 4,000 copies of a new conservation workbook for young students. The Plum Mitan Presbyterian primary school has dedicated a conservation path behind its premises to Bernadette, aptly naming it the Bernadette Plair Trail. Bernadette, now in Trinidad, is happy that we have the opportunity to restore an almost lost species of the unique biodiversity of species on our island — the Blue and Gold Macaw, to make it remain a part of our eco system. Thanks to her determination and drive, these gorgeous birds will now join their slowly growing new community in the Nariva swamp’s avian landscape.