Why is the jamaican iguana endangered
Jamaica News Today-The Jamaican iguana, an international success story in conservation
[Music]
once thought to be extinct
the Jamaican iguana which was
rediscovered in the hellshire Hills of
st. Catherine in the 1990s is once again
thriving although still very much
endangered when the latest batch of 50
reptiles breaded the hope zoo in st.
Andrew was turned loose on March 6th
this year in the hellshire Hills it
marked the largest number of iguana has
ever released at one time under the
program this is significant for
conservationists Andorra grant a member
of the San Diego Zoo Institute for
conservation research in the United
States she led a recent group of 11
volunteers from five zoos in the United
States and supervised the latest release
of the reptiles back into the wild grant
has been coming to Jamaica since 1996
and was full of praise for the hoaxes
head start and reintroduction program
for the Jamaican iguana which she
described as one of the Caribbeans
unique species she said the program was
of the utmost importance since the
reptile was critically endangered
Milton Rybak general curator at the Hope
Zoo gets ready to release into the
hellshire hills the first iguana
hatchling taken from the Hope Zoo in
1991 this particular iguana was released
because of its genetic importance Rybak
said
[Music]
also in photo from left are Melissa to
Mingus and conservationist and or a
grant of the San Diego Zoo Institute for
conservation research in the United
States while Kenny Benjamin the
executive chairman of the Guardsman
group of companies which rehabilitated
and manages the hope zoo expressed that
Jamaicans do not readily appreciate the
importance of the program because they
see the Iguana as just a lizard grant
noted that around the world it is highly
regarded the Jamaican iguana
conservation story is really one of the
most successful international stories
for conservation it's well known
throughout the world and it's because we
have promoted it as well she told loop
news while it is going well the
conservationist cautioned that it is not
over yet
and like most conservation programs it
takes a long time to see success and
there are signs that there have been
improvements since the guardsman group
took over the running of the zoo grant
said we have had much better health for
the iguanas and we have been able to
ramp up our efforts in that regard
this year we have been able to release
50 animals back to the wild and we
brought in 72 hatchlings this year so we
are hoping that with improvements in
diet and husbandry of the iguanas that
we will be able to headstart more
animals each year she explained
[Music]
a Jamaican iguana that was just released
in the wild in the hellshire Hills gets
curious about one of the traps that are
used to capture the mungus and feral
cats that stalk the hills that it calls
home despite the optimism grant pointed
to a major stumbling block as well the
program at the zoo is going very well
the iguanas have a very small space in
which they can live in the wild because
of the mungus feral cats and fury' bugs
in the area it's a complete threat I t's
an entire threat grant stressed when
asked about the extent of the danger the
iguanas face from the fear all animals
in the hellshire hills to prove her
point
she said when the iguanas were
rediscovered there was nothing but older
adult animals living in the wild no
babies no younger animals no sub animals
because the mongus had eaten every
single hatchling in the wild so even
today when we head start 40 a year now
recently 70 everything else that is
released is pretty much going to die as
mungus food last year we had 250
hatchlings and we were only able to
bring 70 into the zoo grant said for
those left in the wild grant said
probably one or two will survive but
everything else will be eaten without
the headstart program
but the conservationists are fighting
back and are now doing extensive
trapping of mungus and cats in the
protective area and there could be a
silver lining ahead with the protected
goat islands playing a major role Grant
revealed if we reintroduce the animals
on to the goat Islands I think we could
say that we have achieved a huge success
right now we have been able to bring the
animal back from the brink of extinction
in that we have now released as of March
6 399 iguanas to the wild and we see a
good population surviving up from a few
dozen back in the 1990s but just how far
away are the conservationists from
releasing the animals back onto the goat
islands the two government agencies with
responsibility for managing the area are
the Urban Development Corporation and
the National Environment and planning
agency NEPA according to grant a
Memorandum of Understanding has been
drafted between the two agencies and as
soon as the MU is signed then we can
move forward with our action plan which
will be to make the islands completely
free of predators it would be a massive
eradication of the goats
mungus and fuel cats that live on the
islands she said as cruel as that sounds
grant was quick to point out that that
effort the eradication of fuel animals
is pretty straightforward although it's
intensive it's something that's been
done on many islands throughout the
world to make them safe havens again for
wildlife
in fact the goat islands may be the last
hope for other endangered species as
once the funeral animals are removed
then we can release not just iguanas but
Jamaican boas and ponies and smaller
refuge species that's been wiped out
from the area as well said an optimistic
grant she said this could all be
realized in two to three years fo are
the latest news download our app at HTTP
colon slash slash bit
[Music]
