Iguana Land - Conservationists optimistic about removing reptile from critically endangered list with establishment of Goat Islands sanctuary

As the move to establish Goat Islands as a sanctuary for the endemic Jamaican Iguana gains momentum, local and international conservationists involved in the preservation efforts are now more optimistic that the reptiles can successfully be removed from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of critically endangered species.

Dr Stesha Pasachnik, who is part of the international team working on the Jamaican Iguana Headstart Programme run by the Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation, said both the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to prepare the Goat Islands as a sanctuary for the Jamaican Iguana, as well as other endemic endangered species.

Pasachnik said that while this has been on the cards for some time now, recent commitments by the Government and other state agencies have given a fillip to the effort to clear the Goat Islands of feral predators like the mongoose as part of the preparation to establish the sanctuary.

The Goat Islands are a group of tiny islands located off the Old Harbour Bay coast, south of the mainland.

“I really think that making Goat Islands a suitable place for them is going to be really important,” said Tandora Grant, a conservationist with the San Diego Zoo who has also been working on the Jamaican Iguana Headstart Programme.

Save the iguanas

Grant sought to justify why every effort should be made to save the Jamaican Iguana.

“The species is unique to the island, it’s as much Jamaican as you all are. Other than that … they eat the seeds and plants and they actually regenerate the forest because the seeds actually grow faster when it passes through their gut,” she said.

Pasachnik said creating the sanctuary on Goat Islands would provide for better monitoring and control of the environment for the endangered species. She is expecting that preparation should be at an advanced stage in five years, and noted that other endangered species like the Jamaican coney, crocodile and yellow snake will also be accommodated in the sanctuary.

Efforts to save the Jamaican Iguana from extinction have been under way since a few adult reptiles were accidentally rediscovered in 1990. Before that, they were thought to have become extinct due to feral predators and deforestation of the dry forests in the Hellshire Hills in St Catherine where they are predominantly found.

The programme, which involves protecting eggs and removing hatchlings from the wild to a protected area at the Hope Zoo in St Andrew, is a very intricate and expensive process.

Hope Zoo curator Joey Brown said that, after about six years in a protected area of the zoo where they are fed a strict plant-based diet and monitored for optimal health, the adult iguanas are then reintroduced into their natural habitat. This precise and intricate conservation programme, now funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Small Grants Programme, has resulted in a steady increase in the population of the lizards, which today number around 500.

Brown, who shared insights into the headstart programme at the annual health screening exercise recently, said the conservation of the Jamaican Iguana is perhaps the most important undertaking by the Hope Zoo, given its significance both locally and globally. He said the programme has improved significantly since it first started, as more reptiles are now being released into their natural habitat. This is now being done twice per year, as against just once previously.

Dr Kimberley Rainwater, director of conservation at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas, said that “the Jamaican Iguana is an important part of the ecosystem”.

expert support

Rainwater is part of the international team from the Fort Worth and San Diego zoos who provide expert support to the team at Hope Zoo towards the conservation of the Jamaican Iguana.

In particular, she leads the annual health screening exercise for the iguanas which is usually done before the release of a new cohort. This important exercise, which forms part of an international study of the reptiles, assists in determining how they function and their readiness for the wild.

Even though the efforts by conservationists to save the Jamaican Iguana have been recognised internationally, this has gone largely unnoticed by many Jamaicans.

But, given that most Jamaicans are not fond of lizards, especially when they look like and grow as large as the Jamaican Iguana, it’s not surprising that many would not appreciate the value of saving the critically endangered endemic reptile.

Rainwater, echoing Grant, noted that the Jamaican Iguana actually boosts the fertility of the soil and aids plant growth by dispersing seeds, important elements in the ecosystem.

In fact, plant seeds excreted by the Jamaican Iguana have been found to grow faster than regular ones.

Grant stressed that saving the Jamaican Iguana is also important to the island meeting its biodiversity goals.

“If we were to stop doing what we are doing with the headstart programme the iguanas would start dying again,” she warned.

Orlando Robinson, a former curator of the Hope Zoo who has been involved in Jamaican Iguana conservation programme from its early stages, said the success to date is testament to what can be achieved locally with team effort.

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