Sugar-glider posed serious eco-threat
Jimel McLean
(CNS): The case against two people arrested by customs for attempting to smuggle a sugar-glider into the Cayman Islands appears stalled, but conservationists have raised concerns about the dangers posed by the importation of exotic alien species to the native and indigenous flora and fauna and what could have happened if the creature in this case had made its way past the authorities. Reports in the Australian press this week highlighted the real danger sugar-gliders now pose to the endangered swift parrot in Tasmania, which could have translated to a real threat to Cayman’s national bird.
The furry predator has caused a real problem for conservationists on Tasmania. Because the sugar-glider has a taste for parrots, eating the eggs and chicks, it has pursued them to the brink of extinction. Costly investments have now been made in nesting boxes that close at night in an effort to try to keep the nocturnal predators away from the native bird.
Christine Rose-Smyth, the chair of the National Conservation Council, confirmed this week, following questions about the smuggling issue, that no one had approached the NCC about import licences for the gliders and that it was extremely unlikely, given the threat they would pose to the local parrots, that such an application would ever be approved. She urged people to consider the significant impact any alien species can have on the native and indigenous flora and fauna before they try to bring in what people think are cute pets.
It also became clear at Tuesday’s NCC meeting that neither the Department of Environment nor the council had been informed of what had happened to the animal, which was seized by customs after the couple were arrested. They had been attempting to bring it into the islands on a Cayman Airways flight in June, but the authorities were alerted after the animal escaped from inside a pocket.
Despite their arrest and the very public emergence of the sugar-glider on the aircraft, the case does not appear to have advanced since the arrest. No one has been charged and 31-year-old Jimel McLean, the son of Arden McLean, the MLA for East End, and a 26-year-old woman have been bailed by customs five times as they await a decision from the director of public prosecutions about the attempted smuggling.
The couple are due to return to customs next week.
Sugar gliders? Nah hunny, just give me a sugar daddy…
Māori recipie
1 oz shrimp chopped
3/4 cup egg substitute
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cups mushrooms
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
1 cup asparagus olive oil
1 steamed sugar glider, deskinned, deboned and detailed
Method:
in a medium nonstick saute pan, heat oil. add asparagus to pan and cook for 1 minute then add onion and mushrooms. place shrimp in pan and cook for 1 minute. pour egg substitute into pan. place sugar glider into pan. place rest of ingedients into pan. stir fry for 5 minutes. serve hot. makes 4 servings.. enjoy!
What poses a serious threat is the blatant destruction of the environment. Populating our island with cute little animals isn’t the threat.
This is an ignorant statement!
Oh Christ it’s a damn Sugar Glider that was probably going
To be a pet, don’t you need two of them
For them to breed ? Yes I appreciate the concern for the environment but we are about to dredge up GT Harbour and I don’t hear a huge outcry from the Conservation Council about that!
The illegal importation of invasive species should concern all Caymanians. The damage by the green iguana and the lion fish show the real dangers and both were not introduced intentionally.
It just show the proof that these idiots TSA agents at Miami airport did not do their job properly when searching people…How many bullets or guns or illegal pets got through to cayman from Miami.
Sorry but sugar gliders are only illegal on your end so you have to stop them at your end. The US does not care if they are on outbound planes so long as they are in a carrier.
Then I hope escape snake or spider will bit your leg while you are on the plane…then you will die!
The sugar glider is not illegal in Miami.
Do they eat iguanas eggs? ?
your farmers are allowed to shoot parrots.
No they are not
Yes they are!
I’d rather be overrun with sugar gliders than the iguanas or gangsters that nobody gave a damn about.
I would say that the illegal sugar gliders should be taken back to where they came from, and if the owner don’t want to leave them they can stay with them there . But Cayman Islands cannot afford to let another invasive and destructive species to over populate the Islands like the green iguana. And forget about who I am, not me personally.
I would say something about the photo but I know I can’t.
Maybe this is not the first instance of these animals being imported?
The immigration department are granting work permits every day.
Cns please find out what’s happening. The public needs to know where these animals are
They put the animals down the day they confiscated them.
What? That’s like being cruel to a dog or cat!
Correction, we sent them to the Ritz they are safe and sound in the honeymoon suite.
Smh…
We only have to look as far as the green iguanas that are now overrunning Cayman to see the danger a non-native species can be. I hope the authorities don’t wait as long to move on this as they did on the iguanas – until they are eating plants, fruit, birds, messing up the sides of buildings with their feces, defecating on lawns, in pools etc., etc. And now we have to expend thousands of dollars to try to eradicate them and it’s highly unlikely we ever will.
I don’t see anything being done to get rid of the green iguanas that are destroying the environment and yet the department of Environment want another six million dollars of the people money to do nothing with but to have cocktails partys and to stop the most needed roads and to pay someone to count the parrots and iguanas which is impossible to do, that’s why I’m happy that the government is not answering their calls or meeting with them to waste time and money with them!!!!
CNS why are comments not closed on this matter. This is an ongoing investigation which may or may not result in charges being brought. All other matters that are awaiting possible charges and are not yet before the courts or in the courts do not have open comments. Why is this matter any different??
CNS: I am not allowing comments on the suspects for the reasons you state, but the article was on the broader subject of importation of alien species, so I am allowing some comments.
Let’s keep on eye on this to ensure that prosecution goes forward PLEASE!
We certainly need something to keep that pest of a so-called “national bird” in check – what a terrible selection – a truly cantankerous, destructive and deceitful invasive species!
what the hell are you talking about?
You sir, are a jokester or an idiot.
Invasive? It’s indigenous – unlike humans.
Also let us not sweep under the carpet that this animal got loose on a Cayman Airways aircraft in flight to Grand Cayman.
Surely there should also be charges laid in connection with endangerment of an aircraft and/or its passengers and crew in flight!
It’s was a Sugar glider, not a Gremlin …
Ok smart a$$ … small rodent on plane escapes …. finds its way into the wire corridors and begins chewing through a few … do you want to be up there when the pilot loses control of the flaps or rudder? A few years ago a flight in Cyprus was aborted after a rat was spotted running through the plane. Unrestrained animals on planes can present very real safety issues.
LMAO!!
Your ignorance is showing!
1 – Sugar Gliders aren’t rodents, they are marsupials.
2 – Sugar Gliders only have 2 very pointy TIny needle like teeth. It takes mine a month to chew a small hole through a normal piece of felt cloth. They can’t chew metal and it would take at least a day (probably WAY more) of continuous work to chew through wire insulation in o e little spot.
3 – The Adiabatic lapse rate is 2 degrees per thousand feet. That means that a flight to 10,000 feet would mean a temperature drop of 20 degrees below ground temps outside of the passenger cabin. IF the animal could get outside the passenger cabin it probably wouldn’t survive the trip.
But they are a serious danger to the wildlife balance! A caterpillar wiped out an entire insect species not to mention the decimation of an entire pulp and paper industry on the island of Newfoundland in Canada. Those sweet little omnivore Sugar Gliders are known to hunt eggs, small lizards and birds as well as insects so they would throw the balance off on a new island if not strictly controlled, IF they could survive without their stable foods found ONLY in Australia or specially formulated in manufactured foods for glider owners.
And in their own environment, a gremlin is just a gremlin.
No way you could carry a Gremlin car on board. It would have to be checked. ??
Cayman Airways is not responsible for screening passengers. That job fall under the responsibility of Customs in Miami and clearly they messed up so Cayman Airways should not be held responsible.
The airline couldn’t know that a passenger would bring the animal on their plane because they would expect that all passengers would be properly screened.
It’s not US customs that screen passengers before they get on a flight it is TSA.
Ok…thanks for your correction my bad…but still not Cayman Airways responsibility.
Animals won’t set off a metal detector, duh.
Thank you…that maybe so but its still not Cayman Airways responsibility, duh.
The ability to read and tbe ability to comprehend are two completely different skill sets.
Clearly you have the inability of understanding what you have read.
Get someone to interpret it for you!
The US doesn’t enforce Cayman laws in Miami and never will. We like sugar gliders.
How can customs mess up in Miami when the sugar glider is not illegal there genius.
hysterical much?