Headless iguanas dumped in Barkers canal
About 40 dead iguanas were found at Barkers
(CNS): Dozens of mostly headless green iguanas were found dumped in a canal in Barkers this weekend, prompting concerns just as the nationwide cull of the invasive species begins. CNS was sent pictures of the dead iguanas by a reader and contacted the Department of Environment which said they had already been alerted to the issue.
Fred Burton, the manager of the DoE’s Terrestrial Resources Unit, which is coordinating the cull, said that now it is underway, there is no excuse for the animals to be dumped anywhere and that they must be taken to the designated area at the landfill.
“It is obviously illegal, and if anyone observes this sort of thing happening they should report it to the police immediately,” Burton said about the iguanas found Sunday.
Dead iguanas found at Barkers
“If this can be traced to a registered culler, they will probably lose their culler registration. Now, especially that the cull has formally begun and the landfill site for reception and counting carcasses is operational, there is absolutely no reason not to bring the entire carcass to the landfill site so it can be disposed of properly, and that is what we are expecting.”
The DoE is also keen to ensure that the iguanas will be killed humanely as well as properly disposed of at the correct place.
It is not clear why perhaps more than forty iguanas were dumped in the canal, but it could be that some cullers were attempting to get a head start — literally — by dumping the bodies of animals they had begun killing before the cull’s official start and storing the heads to take to the dump to claim the $5 bounty.
The dead iguanas were found in a canal
Some cullers have an agreement with the DoE’s cull manager to bring in just heads, if the meat and skin is being used in other commercial operations, but cullers are generally expected to take the full body to the dump.
The management company contracted to deal with the cull began accepting the culled iguanas Monday morning and had already collected 2,000 by 11am.
The goal is to eliminate at least one million green iguanas over the next twelve months in order to reverse the startling explosion in the population over the last few years.
The invasive iguana has flourished on Grand Cayman but now poses a serious threat to the local environment.
Category: Land Habitat, Science & Nature
As I am reading here in all the comments and see that we all do have different opinion on how to handle the green iguanas problem . I am wonder if the blue iguanas aren’t going to get wiped out in the process . Sounds like some are thinking of how to beat the system to collect more $$$ . So who is going to be at the dump to make sure that one didn’t kill a dozen blues that was in the wrong place at wrong time ?
The DOE doesn’t have the resources to be everywhere. A $2500 reward to identify people illegally dumping remains would have many more eyes watching but would require a quick response from police.
Heh heh heh. “A quick response from police”
Dont agree with the dumping of bodies either, but can you explain what law would have been broken in the “illegal dumping” – not sure what offence the police would b investigating.
Jeez people are so sensitive. Worry about you and your families health and well-being and just make the cullers to their job. You really expect a million iguana cull is going to breeze by humanely and without issue? Most people complaining would have a heart attack if placed in a room with one of these things, or probably live in a condo without crops or fruit trees which they put effort and care into growing.
Saw three kids running around the golf course by crystal harbour with dead iguanas in tow. No way that they are the ones that have the license but yet they’re out there, who knows if they’re humanly killing these animals but they are taking it back to whoever is going to collect the money and then they’re getting paid a cut. So there’s no oversight! If you get a license to cull, you can’t hire out other people!
False. It has been published numerous times that you can partner with a registered culler. Only the card holder can receive their cheque. Payments to partners is between them and the registered culler.
Well then, there’s the problem. No regulation of these clowns.
The DOE do know there are iguana farms in Westbay right? I believe 1 of them has around 8000 babies ready to go.
Wouldn’t doubt it. Can you share the address?
What did the Gov expect? The care of animals here is beyond outrageous. Ofcourse some idiots are going to find this free-range for cruelty.
Money, the root of all evil
Not so much money as the love of it.
For Pete’s sake why can’t the DOE just ask of proof where the carcass is when they arrive to dispose the heads. Show an invoice the meat was sold or a picture of the meat in the freezer or in a pot. It is not rocket science. With everything, there will be a few that will breaking the rules.
So they will use a made up invoice every time or the same two pictures? Not a good idea. Bring the whole body, then you can sell the meat.
Do you want them gone or do you not want them gone?
I think the most humane thing to do is arrange with a vet to euthanize the iguanas even if it means lowering the payment or maybe the people against the culling could donate funds to have them euthanized because even though I couldn’t kill them are are a threat to our fruits and vegetables.
Management company with no history is selected.
Can you explain why the **** I wasted my time submitting a proposal when they already knew who they were going to pick!!!
Watch the money…
So your company had a history of organising and managing an iguana cull? When & where did this history take place? Maybe the selected company had a better history of accurate recording and accounting.
Why does someone always feel that there is a conspiracy?
it had nothing to do with iguanas.
it was about accounting, setting up a proper facility and technology at the dump.
is there anything that Government Leaders/Civil servants can do with out making a mess of the whole project. Heavens!!
Nope.
As usual, blame government instead of the actual people responsible…
“dozens of [carcasses] in barkers”. A few other sites reported, if you believe them, so maybe a hundred total. Over 10K at the dump the first day. So less than .01% ‘bad disposal’. Honestly that’s probably an acceptably low number. – As someone else said ‘hard getting worked up over this’ storm in a teacup.
Simple solution – only pay for whole carcasses. Just the head = no pay. End of stupid problem.
too sensible for the civil service.
The rule was obviously put in place for those cullers that would want to eat them or else give the meat to a processor for food. Now the government will have to enforce because of a few boneheads.
You bring the whole carcass. You get paid. If you want tot take it away to sell for meat you leave the head. Dump only pays out o carcasses with heads. problem solved, meat supplier get their mat.
You want talk bout bad luck afta killing God’s beautiful creatures! ????
Look here 113…..there is no such thing as bad luck. Only bad conduct. These are invasive destructive animals eating down the trees and gardens. They need to be gotten rid of. Thank you CIG for getting this program going. It needed to begin.
Grow up people and accept that the cull will happen and is happening. Get over being upset and squeamish!!!
It’s the iguanas going or your beloved mangoes and other crops trashed!!!!!
Kill them all and trash their nests!
It is going to be messy for a bit.
The mango and guava cart is going to get upset but things will get better.
Just dig a hole in the garden and put in the bodies. Great fertilizer. Just stop being immature people! The critters must be killed!!!!
can we talk about how they selected a company with minimal history to manage the program.
Please suggest a company with a wealth of experience in iguana cull management. You might not know it but Cayman is the leader in this field.
Oh my god, what has happened to my beautiful, peaceful island time forgot? Premier McGlaughlin how could you let this happen under your watch. You should be ashamed. What I’ve read in these comments is disgusting. I swear to god if anyone approaches my property attempting to kill anything I will put a stop to it. I don’t give a crap if they’re considered an invasive species or not, this is NOT the way to handle it.
Shoot spears through live fish and lobsters, no problem
Rip whelks out of their natural habitat then boil them alive, no problem
Reverse-drown conchs then gut them alive and throw the shells by the boat ramp, no problem
Nuke mosquitoes, no problem
Behead an invasive species that is damaging local farms, big problem.
Btw, how you gonna call on your god and then swear to him in the same paragraph? The way you think is very interesting.
It’s not the beheading per se, more the wholesale discarding of 40 of what will become rotting stinking carcasses into the mangrove canals which are juvenile fish nurseries. That takes a special kind of stupid.
315…..this is not a problem. Fish will come in and eat them up. Stop being silly. Iguanas need to be gotten rid of come hell or canal water. Good job cullers. Keep knocking them off the block!!!
While it might look unpleasant and smell terrible too, it’s kind of natural. Left alone they would have died there anyway, just perhaps not all at one time.
Karma? Paradise has ruined itself. Foremost to Dart.
Headless rotting iguana bodies on land (Mt. Trashmore, too) or in the Sea, just in time for Tourist Season 2018. Wise choice yet again CIG.
. . . these Iguana bodies could be viewed from planes and Cruise ships like the Sargassum invasion can be now? SMH
What in the world gives you the idea that the idiots who threw those carcasses in Barkers were doing so at the instigation of the CIG???? How in the world can that be laid at their door? DOE is tasked with mitigating an invasive species that threatens the habitat of many indigenous creatures here.
Some idiots did the wrong thing. NOBODY in government directed them to do so.
a couple of hundred yards off town it drops to well ovee a thousand feet deep with all sorts of critters that would love a feast. Is there no way to just sink them into the abyss twice a week?
You may one day eat one of those critters in the abyss. This has disease written all over it. Do you know how rotten, decomposed, and dangerous those carcasses would be after a time in the hot Caribbean sun!?
Do get a life 642. The John Crow birds will come in and help eat them up. Change happens. This is going on so just stay busy and let the food chain happen!!!
John crow birds?
Uhhhhh hello? The food chain is already happening and it’s not doing its job. Hence, the cull. Further to that, ever heard of ciguatera? Listen, maybe it won’t cause a problem, BUT maybe it will…….
since there are restuarants in Florida wanting to by them why don’t we ship them to Miami.?
basic economics of doing business in cayman.
Check Spinion out. They are shipping them off to the US and making every effort to do it properly. Its not that easy to export an internationally protected species.
Its Appendix II on CITES – all you need is an export permit, don’t need an import permit, and the export permit only gets refused if the species is locally endangered. The bigger issue must surely be the cost of preparing and exporting the meat as against the selling price in the US – bit difficult to make money given the cost of temperature controlled cargo from here, quite apart from the high costs of running any business here. Spinion would be better off trying to make it a local delicacy in the same way that Lion fish took off
Has it occurred to anyone that those iguanas carry salmonella? think of the outbreak of sickness it the dead iguanas are not properly disposed off!!!
This Government’s leaders are really a pack of numbskulls. Don’t think anything through.
So do the chikens.
Expat told me a story about long ago when he thought it was a good idea to eat the yard chicken eggs. (30+ years ago) He was so grateful that the kids just happened to be away or they would have eaten the eggs too.
Deathly ill.
The free range chickens we have are just as invasive and disease carrying as the iguana and rats. Just imagine tracking in their feces when you wear your shoes inside your house, past your threshold.
I ate the local chickens and the local eggs. They taste great. That’s just mumbo jumbo the stores say so you will buy their imported chemical chickens.
Pathetic – there will always be those who try to skirt the rules. But at what cost? Iguana carry salmonella, so now we have to worry about that contaminating our environment. Come people – THINK!
Oh, please. Your environment has been contaminated for years. Just think about millions of pounds of unfiltered ash and emissions from Brac and GC incinerators. Shredded tires and quarry fires. It doesn’t disappear. It accumulates in your bodies, flora and fauna, soil, livestock.
Better start selling your property before they build waste to energy plant.
Hello 1 42? You are an idiot if you think ash from the Brac affects us here in GC. Get real. There are lots of miles between each island. Takes that jet 20 minutes just to fly over there!
You are an idiot for not realizing that the problem affects Grand too – did you not read the bit where the OP mentions both incinerators? Think before you accuse someone else of being an idiot – you may just be pointing the finger at yourself.
@anon, slow down..
“The George Town and Cayman Brac landfill incinerators have burned nearly 2 million pounds of trash since August 2016, all without the use of scrubbers – devices to remove toxins from the incinerators’ exhaust.
It is not clear how much hazardous emissions are being released into the atmosphere due to there being no air-pollution control devices at the landfill incinerators. A 2016 study by U.K. environmental consultant Amec Foster Wheeler recommended that government start assessing emissions from the incinerators and their likely impact, but that initiative has not yet started.”(compass oct.2018)
Does a dead iguana carry more salmonella than a live one? At least a dead one stays in one place.
Having trouble getting worked up over this.
don’t worry, there’ll be another article to get irate before the day’s out
time to suspend the program and get the auditor general in for a review
Well now I’m definitely not drinking tap water! Especially a fter all these dead iguana bodies are going to be decaying into the local water system. Yuck.
Our tap water is naturally filtered through Cayman’s porous limestone from the ocean, then pumped from deep underground up to RO plants who then put it through rigorous filtration and sanitization. Afterwards it gets tested daily.
Nothing is perfect, but we literally have one of the best tap water supply in the world. Be thankful.
NYC has better
@1.27 LOL. That is why people drink only bottled water.
Prove by an independent lab testing before making your statement.
Check for heavy metals and all that crap from incinerators emissions and ash. By the way where and how bottom ash is disposed of? And where the fly ash falls out?
Start with testing breast milk and umbilical cord. Just like someone had said already, the results might blow your hear back a bit.
I’m sure you drink that nonsense Alkaline water too thinking it’s some miracle in a bottle.
Maybe some hydrogen infused water that I saw in a store few months ago
I see what you did there
It’s far from the best in the Caribbean, let alone the world. It’s about as good as our so-called “world class” civil service and government leaders.
Oh. No it is not. Not desalinated at all. Have you ever smelled that place?
It’s desalinated seawater in the water system.
No. It is desalinated/purified ground water from the aquifer.
Where did they decay before the cull?
Not always in the water, after being thrown in without heads.
This issue highlights a much larger problem in Cayman. Littering in general.
I regularly walk Barkers and the amount of trash in there is disgusting. No surprise this kind of ignorant,anti-social behavior goes on.
The DOE should employ a Ranger to regularly patrol the area, collecting trash,fining litterers and keep things in order. Trash bins placed in various locations and a skip in an area near the exit /entrance, which are regularly maintained would be an asset. CCTV should be placed at the entrance to see who’s going in and out and what is in and emptied from the backs of trucks.
Rangers should stop at each occupied beach side parking area and advise users their tags have been photographed and if they leave their trash behind the car owner will be fined.
We complain there is no work here, but here is a position that could be created to protect our Natural Treasures.
Every grade from every school should spend 1 day a year in the park collecting trash and be educated on the issues caused by littering. Perhaps the message will sink in and we will stop seeing this kind of irresponsible, lazy behavior.
For god’s sake how difficult is it to take your fast food bag, soda can or water bottle to a receptacle at home??? Let alone taking your carcasses to the landfill…
Not to mention all the poaching that goes on there. Just look for discarded conch shells in the road. Many of them.
Mr. Burns: Thanks for bringing up the litter and garbage issue.
This has to be on going education and constantly asking people to change and think about cleaning up after themselves.
People are stressed and maybe we could all begin by asking officials to stop getting in more people. 60,000 now and Cayman people in Govt want 100,000 is not right. Speak up now about your issues in each district people.
Doe marine officers are apparently down to 3 officers, 1 supervisor and 1 so called chief.
Is this a joke?
DEH should have realized and expected this type of action when they placed the bounty on “heads”! Simply just reject the “body-less” heads, that will send the right message!
Morons in charge!
Surely if you can supply proof of purchase from an iguana meat processing plant, then only the head will suffice? It’s not rocket science is it?
“meat processing plant”…spare us.
Spare you what? https://www.caymancompass.com/2018/06/26/green-iguana-meat-exports-to-begin/
Actually this is one mess than cannot be blamed on the DEH. I think you meant DOE
There are a lot of dumb people in this world (and yes, that includes here in Cayman, too).
Basic math will usually prove that a dumb idea, executed by a number of random, dumb people… will probably not yield a great result.
And that is the story of the headless floating iguana problem.
Solution? I have no idea. But hear this:
Having a bunch of random people, some of whom boast skills limited to being able to breathe and swing a machete, roam the island on a reptilian murder spree for pay… is probably not the miraculous solution to Cayman’s iguana crisis.
Just a hunch.
Hey Fred! Taking Turtle at anytime, and conch, whelk, lobster and grouper out of season is also illegal, but have DOE made any real effort to stop the raping of our seas?
The answer is no because there isn’t anyone out there to stop this criminality, or it would seem, anyone at DOE management who has any interest in stopping it.
And now you have taken the pot of gold to pay these culling cowboys, what is left for protecting our seas and indigenous creatures that we rely on for tourism and food?
I heard 5 officers for 3 islands. Is that true doe? Why no officer?
Taking out work permits for Iguana cullers what do you expect the outcome is going to be??? Aaaah boy poor old Cayman this is what happens when you giveaway your rights.
No work permits were taken out!
The cullers are Caymanian…
Those idiots at DOE should be fired. This was always going to be a nightmare and pr disaster given the idiots that were commissioned to conduct this cull. But that’s what happens when desk jockeys are allowed to justify their existence through unchallenged research.
It won’t be long before a tourist or some other shocked passer by films the carnage going on and puts it up on social media for the world to see. I bet CITA and the RCIPS are so proud of the DOE at this time.
Everyone agrees that a cull is necessary, but it should have been conducted by professional pest controllers, not bounty seeking morons.
But to think about it, that should be a easy case for RCIP to crack with the CCTV camera . They probably use a truck and didn’t cover the iguanas . See there’s no legislation/law that I think the Police can prosecute under .
The only reason I can think of for having a CCTV camera at a canal in Barkers is to catch the local species of car thieves at work.
Read the Animals Law. Ironically the only creature NOT covered under cruelty laws are, yes you guessed it, your national symbol, TURTLES!!!
DOA/RCIPS can prosecute under this legislation.
Anonymous 8 :20 am , when I read the first sentence of your comment, I just thumbed it up . Facts to everyone .
Just another CIG debacle, is anyone really surprised?
What is the incentive for the cullers to bring the iguanas to the appropriate place for disposal ? Or is it just set up that the culler only need to show a picture of the iguanas he killed .
Dear God help us , pretty soon we won’t be able to swim in all that beautiful salt water if this continue .
And this iguana culling project has started , mark my words , in 6 moths all the money will be gone and the iguana population will be bigger than before .
CNS: Despite an enormous amount of information about this cull being posted on this site and many other media houses, there appears to be a lot of misinformation about it. To address this question by Ron Ebanks, pictures are not sufficient for a culler to be paid. You are mixing that up with a previous trial, which did not work. In this nationwide cull, all iguanas MUST be taken to the dump for cullers to be paid. Dealing with other misconceptions not asked here but which have appeared in other comments, only those cleared for specific reasons can bring just heads, the rest of the cullers are required to bring the full animal. Also, the DoE is not employing any work permit holders as cullers. Some private businesses may be using permit holders but all registered cullers must be Caymanian and over 18.
CNS , I agree with your point of view , but something is not going right in the culling project . Here we have people killing the iguanas and dumping them in water , and possibly causing environmentally hazards . Are we all on the same page of making the culling project a success , and not create further problems .
There are also head-less iguanas dumped on land next to the Savannah boat launch ramp on North Sound. Their feet have been bound with cord , how can this be humane treatment of an animal ?
what are you dumb … right now we are trying to get rid of the damn green iguana and you are worried on how they get killed? is it humane …. just kill the damn shits, but properly dispose of them please.
You can get rid of them humanely, you half baked moron.
We don’t have to kill them all humanely when we are trying to kill more than a million. They just need to die. Sorry but it’s true. We have employed a death squad for these ecologically dangerous and damaging pests. That some deaths will be worse than others is inevitable.
Exactly!!, children are being bullied every day, children going to school hungry every day, personns can hardly afford groceries, murder of many Jewish people in the U.S. over a dozen pipe bumbs sent in the mail by a hateful person and all of you worried about how to kill a useless nuisance iguana !! Please give me a break. They probably were not killed by any of the registered callers but by someone who is tired of them destroying everything they plant in their backyard. Only problem I see here is they should have been disposed of properly and not thrown in the canals.
What do you expect when there is NO OVERSIGHT…..
This is an unorganized mess now….
same is happening on newlands bypass
it smells disgusting………..
Yes there are, about 10 bodies also headless. I saw them there last night after the tide was low…right next to a large parrotfish head, so clearly the body of that fish was kept for eating. Has anyone officially reported this site? CNS do you need more information to go check it out? Bodies may not be there today after the high tide came though…but could be?
CNS: If anyone sees dead iguanas where they are not supposed to be, can you take a picture and send it to us at info@caymannewsservice.com – thanks!
1246 as soon as the tide comes up so will the sharks. Sharks will have a nice supper. End of story. Just get out your gun or machetes and do them in. It is ok. Would you want rats in your yard? This is the same thing and worse. Rats wont eat all leaves from your fruit trees!!!
Well now they must change the law to take in the whole body. How despicable! And this is why we were commenting on humane kills while others pushed back. Imagine tourists seeing this and going back to tell everyone they know to never visit!
I sincerely hope that the cullers do a good job with these disgusting pets.
Pets?
Gross
Bio engineering
Why would they take the time to bring the entire body (some up to 4 feet long) when all you require is the head for payment? Did any of you in government think this through before implementation?
Not a chance of foresight with these clowns.
“Some cullers have an agreement with the DoE’s cull manager to bring in just heads, if the meat and skin is being used in other commercial operations, but cullers are generally expected to take the full body to the dump.”
From the article you skipped
Car loads of machete wielding Jamaicans pulling up on your front lawn, butchering iguanas, taking their heads and leaving the remains, all in front of your 4 year old child. Way to go CIG….looks like you thought this one through real well.
Jamaicans? I’ve only seen the local drunks and druggies wandering the streets like the walking dead. Smashing heads against walls, beating with sticks, stabbing with hooked sticks and throwing spears. Oh that’s humane, controlled and safe Mr Burton, I’m not sure who the biggest clowns are, the cullers or Burton and his team.
Can you answer this, what’s the humane way to kill them, how do you kill a chicken (ring it’s neck) how do you kill a fish (knock him in the head). Do you want us to inject the iguanas with potassium chloride darts. And I don’t agree with leaving the bodies around!
Oh man, gotta love the hyperbole in this one
I don’t believe you. I could be wrong. So where’s your evidence? I’m sure you had you mobile phone with camera with you?? Or was it inside the house??? Probably charging, right????
In any case, I hope you reported this trespassing to the police.
Don’t the locals eat them? Oh wait, that’s the turtles. Have you ever tried sticking one of these over an open fire pit? Jerk style?? No.?.?
What ever happened to the “humane” culling of the iguanas? I wouldn’t imagine that includes pounding the s**t out of them with a bat … which I witnessed yesterday. How brutal and disgusting is that??
I don’t believe you.
I do. I’ve seen it. Caymankind. Stop this now.
I do. I have seen it too.
What did you expect? You have given a bunch of turds permission to bring in iguana heads for 5 bucks a head. I am sure they will tell you the meat was being used and feeding people but in reality they are lazy af and just going to dump a bunch of headless animals somewhere. Good work Cayman.
Why don’t you do it and show everyone how its done since you have all the mouth in the world?!…
Well …. I think beheading them is the most humane way to cull them. A quicker less pain way to die that getting shot or beaten by a stick.
But I have a concern. Some will beat the system for the money. They will deliberately breed the reptile to cull them. Then what??? Because cullers are not dumb. They will start caging them or have friends to do so in order to breed them! Then you will have a never ending problem on your hands, and more iguanas will populate. Humans will be assisting them! :/
This whole money-for-iguana idea just stinks! It will reduce a bit, but the money cullers will find ways to cheat and get what they can get from government!
I say let us simply create a “Pest Control Department” combining mosquitoe, lion fish, iguanas, and all national pest concerns! Why can’t we do this? And so hire a team to cull them permanently! And stop this money-for-Iguana foolishness!
West Man, Well said! Your post should be pasted on the door of DOE.
Mr. Burton, if you can tweak the method please do but do not stop the cull. We need to rid the island of them. Also please put a limit on how many blue iguanas are permitted to be bred. I can remember when the only places green iguanas were spotted was a pet store and one of two sunning themselves on the banks of the canals behind the Hyatt. Now look at the mess we have on our hands.
OMG
So true!
Why no Pest Control Department? Because the Ernst & Young report, trumpeted regularly in CNS comments said ‘outsource work to private individuals’. Now CIG has done that and you choose to complain?
It took the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme decades to get 1000 Blue Iguanas for release into the wild at massive expensive. Do you really think people will take the time breed a complicated thing like this in a simple cage, if that’s possible? For what? A maximum of 100-150$ per clutch at best? If you leave the parents outside right now they will be on the way to the landfill.
Cretins. Absolute morons. Yeah, let’s have a cull to save the environment, yet some idiots dump the carcasses in the canal, cos that’s going to do amazing things for the water quality there.
Read the numbers above, they propose 1,000,000 to be culled , even if the average weight of them was 5 lb each ( many more much heavier) that comes out to 2,232 tons. This would be a minimum figure. Can you imagine what the land-fill is going to be like if you took the whole body ? Now imagine that number going into our canals, North Sound , landside areas . Has DOE even calculated these figures for a total , makes you wonder. This is the government body supposedly in charge of environment .
Why don’t we start with your ‘even if the average weight of them was 5 lbs…’.
Very true. Maximum weight of greens is very rarely close to 5 lbs.
shambolic as usual from the civil service….
Obeah.
Get your head checked for tumors.
Lodge