All the team here at BIC would like to make a heartfelt appeal to locals and visitors on Grand Cayman to please drive carefully and to avoid hitting any iguana – it just might be a blue.
Blue Iguana Conservation
(CMR) The National Trust has shared that it believes that an endangered blue iguana was deliberately run over by a vehicle on Queen's Highway in East End on Thursday afternoon.
The incident may have been a simple case of mistaken identity – with the person believing they were killing the more common non-native green iguana.
Numerous social media posts on the incident have sparked outrage in the community that someone could be so cruel to one of Cayman's most valued indigenous creatures.
Tire tracks were observed on the highway where the 16-year-old iguana was found with food still in its mouth. The Blue Iguana Conservation's Facebook page shared that:
“Yesterday afternoon we were called to an incident on the Queens Highway after a car swerved to deliberately collide with a wild male blue iguana, which was eating on the roadside verge.
After his successful breeding and rearing at our captive facility, this animal was released into one of our protected reserves in 2012, where he was thriving for 8 years, to then be killed by a deliberate act. The loss of this large (7 kg) breeding male is utterly tragic and sets the program back years.”
The post cautioned against killing any iguanas. The blue iguana is a schedule one protected species and it is a criminal offense to harm the animal. The iguanas are often targeted by feral dogs and cats roaming in the wild.
Despite the devastating news, 30 hatchlings have been born over the last 10 days.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid