THIS WEEK it is all about flora and fauna in St Philip.
On the animal side are Greta Inniss and the Marizayra Sanctuary and a young woman, Joy Jones, with an extraordinary gift, while the plant lovers are Cicely Burke and Abraham Brathwaite and his “Scare Man”.
The sanctuary, located in Wellhouse, started decades ago, back in the 70s. Inniss said it was recently named from an amalgamation of her two granddaughter’s names, but she almost gave it all up after the third dog attack all but wiped out her precious birds.
“I had stopped for a while after the last dog attack but I started back again last year after the nearby Seventh Day Adventist Church had a Nature Week and they came here. I decided then to reopen for the public,” she said.
Inniss said she was going to take precautions to prevent another devastating attack by erecting a sensor around her sanctuary which would deliver a minor
Inniss said she stared the sanctuary for the children as it blessed her heart to see them come and admire the animals. Currently, she opens from midday to 6 p.m. for the general public but it is still a special joy to see the look on the faces of the children when they look at the peacocks, quails, iguanas, tortoises, geese, ducks, fish, parrots and more.
Joy Jones has three special pets – a parrot named Rocky, a Jack Russell Terrier named Coco and a cat named Bubbles. The young woman has trained all three of her pets, especially Rocky, who stands on her head without a care in the world.
“He was a lot smaller when I first got him six years ago. Now, even though his wings aren’t clipped, he won’t fly off unless he’s startled. Then I have to go fetch him,” she said.
Jones said she must have inherited her love of animals from her father. She has no experience in animal training but has an innate connection to animals, which appear to listen to her. She said her next animal would be a cow, if her mother allowed it.
“I really want a cow; I would keep it in the field out there. If I get one, you will see me walking up and down the street with it – that’s how ‘foolish’ [pampered] I will have it,” she said.
Joy’s mother, Cicely Burke, is the other side to her daughter’s coin. While Jones takes care of the animals, Burke tends to the numerous flowers around the house.
“I just love my plants; not now but from every since. I don’t even know the names of all of them. I just love to grow them,” she said.
Burke said the plants give her a sense of peace and often she would come out to tend them but instead get lost in their beauty, talking to them and admiring them – much to the amusement of her neighbours.
Burke said she was very protective of her plants and hardly allowed anyone to touch them, including her family. She said her efforts were the pride of the neighbourhood.
“Everybody who pass through does admire my garden,” she said.
Abraham Brathwaite grows a different kind of plant – the edible ones. He is a part-time crop farmer growing okra, squash, chives, rosemary, carrots, peas and more.
“This is more of a hobby as I work otherwise. This does take so much out of me but I love to do it still – if I don’t work hard, I don’t feel good,” he said.
However, Brathwaite is locked in battle with a cunning and relentless foe – the indigenous monkey population.
“The monkeys real destructive; they does pull up all my nuts. I know the birds and the monkeys got to survive just like we but the monkeys too destructive,” he said. As such, Brathwaite has employed a weapon called “Scare Man” – a home-made scarecrow who has been at it for the past four years.
“Scare man working all right. It does even frighten people at night,” he said.
