Liam's wild life: 9-year-old helps care for animals at conservation centre

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live in a wildlife centre?

Well, Liam Mohammed will be able to tell you a bit about what the experience is like.

After all, the El Socorro Centre for Wildlife Conservation (ECWC) is located at his Freeport home.

And it’s no surprise that he thinks it’s the best thing ever.

Liam, nine, told Newsday Kids, “The animals here (at the centre) are fun to play with and you can even look at them while they are eating because they don’t really mind.”

At the centre, Liam helps feed the animals.

But he mostly feed the centre’s many birds and some, like macaws, black vultures and hawks, have very sharp beaks.

So, what’s his tips for feeding birds with sharp beaks?

“It depends on the bird. Normally you have to put in the food somewhere far in the cage and do it fast.

“But it’s easier with some birds if you’re taking care of them (and they’re familiar with you). They’ll let you touch them and stuff…then you can put in the food slowly.”

During Newsday Kids’ visit to the centre, Liam demonstrated how he feeds super worms to a hedgehog.

Named Baby Pig, the hedgehog is one of Liam’s favourite animals at the centre.

Apart from the hedgehog, Liam also likes the snakes because of how they camouflage themselves and feed on their prey.

While Liam knows some people may be afraid of snakes, he wants them to know that they shouldn’t.

He explained, “Snakes will only harm you if you try to harm them.

“If you just pass them and don’t do anything to them, they would leave you and go their way.”

Even though he was accidently bitten by a baby red tail boa in April, he still loves snakes.

Liam held the snake wrong which led to the bite.

Recalling the incident, Liam told Newsday Kids, “When it bit, it just bit and let go…it didn’t hold onto me.

“The bite felt like a little needle and I cried a little bit.”

Liam also like turtles and thinks their shells are beautiful.

“Turtles have a strong shell, they eat a lot of things and some turtles could go under water and breathe.”

When he’s not helping at the centre, Liam loves fishing and playing football.

Since the age of three, his uncle has been teaching him how to fish.

To date, he’s gone fishing all over Trinidad including off the Mayaro coast.

Of the many different kinds of fish he’s caught, cro cro and salmon are the ones he’s caught the most.

“I like fishing because you get to sail around in a boat and catch some fish.

“Sometimes I get to hold the fish and sometimes you get to bathe in the water.”

While he’s learnt a lot about fishing, he still finds it a bit challenging especially the amount of time it takes to make a catch.

“Sometimes, you have to wait a whole hour to catch a fish and sometimes when they are reeling in the fish, it is hard to reel it up.

A lover of the outdoors, there isn’t much Liam loves to do indoors except playing his favourite video games like Roblox and Minecraft.

A standard three student at Freeport Presbyterian School, Liam wants to be a land surveyor and contractor when he grows up because he loves building stuff.