Endangered rock iguana bounces back after cat cull
(CNS): The endangered Sister Islands Rock Iguana, which has been in steep decline for years, is making an impressive comeback on Little Cayman after the apparent success of a feral cat cull. According to the Department of Environment’s latest survey undertaken in March, the iguana population on the island has more than tripled in three years, from a low of about 1,000 individuals in 2022 to around 3,500 this year.
“This inspiring recovery gives us new hope for Little Cayman’s iguanas,” a DoE spokesperson said in a release about the survey and related report.
The surveys, which began in 2014, showed that the iconic creatures were in real danger due to habitat loss, car collisions along roads and invasive mammal predation, especially the significant population of feral cats on Little Cayman. While the animals are not out of danger yet, the numbers documented this year are higher than when the surveys began.
This recent invasive mammal control effort, credited with helping the recovery, was funded by a Darwin grant. It saw the removal of 176 feral cats that were feeding on the hatchling rock iguanas (Cyclura nubila caymanensis) and has set the stage for the animals to thrive.
The increase in young iguanas observed so far this year indicates that survival rates of hatchlings from 2022 and 2023 were high, showing the inherent capacity of the population to recover when predation pressures on hatchlings are reduced.
The cull was critical to the improvement, but the Little Cayman community also rallied to ensure that all domestic pet cats living there are now microchipped, vaccinated and desexed — the first of the Cayman Islands to achieve this critical milestone, eliminating the causal link between pet cats and the feral population.
This was achieved through active community support in partnership with the Department of Environment, National Trust for the Cayman Islands, Cayman Islands Humane Society, and the Cayman Islands Department of Agriculture, which brings vet services and support to pet owners on the island.
The DoE scientists have said that the continued management of the feral cat threat on Cayman Brac as well as Little Cayman is necessary for this bounce back to be sustained and the long-term viability of the overall population size.
“We should continue to monitor the population of C. n. caymanensis in Little Cayman every year and use the estimates to inform conservation management decisions,” the DoE team said.
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Category: Land Habitat, Science & Nature
I don’t see the deal about the Sister Island iguanas. They are not normal. Unlike the Blue Iguana, they eat other animals even kittens.
The Humane Society has some serious atonement to make. Their damned arrogance and wilful obstruction was very nearly an extinction-level event – and not just for the rock iguanas – but also anole and countless birds.
The rat population has gone up too.
Now we just need to look after the owl population…
hoo?
Gotta love it when common sense wins. Doesn’t happen very often these days so nice to see it!
Iguanas.. check… Little Cayman cats… check… Grand Cayman chickens? When is that coming.
ate you completely unaware of the price of eggs? stop talking foolishness
If we can do that for the endanger Rock Iguana why can we not do that for the endanger indigenous Caymanian instead of listening to 38,000 stray cats that have landed on our shores and now roaming our streets . Already the clammer of Garbage bid lids sounding the alarm of the coming battle with the likes of Cayman finance talking about Balance when we caymanian are clearly outnumbered 5-1 in Cayman and now before the new Government has even warmed their seats in their ministries This coalition needs to fulfill their political promises or they will be a one hit wonder like the previous bunch.
Caymanians are not indigenous buddy. The door may have been left open a little too long, but probably shouldn’t compare us to an animal that evolved here over thousands of years.
This is great news. Well done to all involved.
Here kitty kitty…
Get on with the Brac and Grand, what’s the hold up?
Take the damn fowl same time.
The tourists absolutely love to see the chickens, and they are the reason why we can walk barefoot in grass and not get bit by creepy crawly insects, unlike where you come from, probably Australia. It’s just a simple fact that out of everyone that hates our local chickens, it’s 95% expats doing the complaining.
Get rid of wild cats and the iguanas will thrive.. Get rid of wild chickens, and in return the local scorpion, spider, centipede, etc populations will rejoice – take it from a Caymanian farmer.
Leave the chickens alone!! They more Caymanian than half of unna that come here and want to turn this place into wherever you come from. If shzt hits the fan, they’re a huge, ready-to-breed source of livestock for fresh meat and eggs.
“Get rid of the fowl! They’re loud and annoying!” Karen shouted from her third floor mansion, while her modern-day slaves use two-stroke environmentally disastrous, loud leaf blowers because she can’t stand to see or hear nature on her property.
Sorry, not sorry, but yes. This is a PERFECT example of the gentrification of every square inch of our islands from people not even born here, like it or not.
You hit the nail on the head. “Get rid of the chickens” sounds innocent, but it is entirely flavored in the generational Caymanian versus Expat social divide that has grown rather exponentially lately…
In my opinion, there is not only a severe lack of immigration regulation, but in return, very little assimilation.
Your the guy who calls in Marl Road with all the big (pointless) words right?
Yet you open with ‘sorry, not sorry’, that most Caymanian of sayings!
You have a point, kind of. I’m one of those pesky paper Caymanians, however, I’ve worked in the community for 20 years. Personally, the chickens are fine. I love to see them doing their little chicken things. Yes, roosters crowing at all hours can genuinely cause sleep deprivation, but hey, that’s life.
The massive amount of them would be lessened if people put lids on their garbage etc.
Anyhow. As you were.
You eat the nasty scavengers and their illegitimate offspring if you want.
They thrive off your uncovered trash after all.
The only real value they have is cleaning up the dog shit from the neighborhood.
Newsflash: you can use existing, mature animals to readily breed/create others on clean feed which results in clean meat.
Then put them in a coop, in a regulated environment and farm them responsibly. In the meantime, I will keep dealing with the wild fowl by whatever means necessary.
Otherwise, shut the hell up and stay out of my way.
Mobile MREs.
No tourist has ever or will ever come to the Cayman Islands to see a wild chicken walking across the front of KFC. Try again with your bullshit.
I find it sort of hilarious how angry you seem at another human who is advocating against needlessly killing animals simply because you don’t like to see them. Chickens don’t kill or eat iguanas or other endangered species.
Genuine question – wa the chickens doing to you?
You don’t have windows or a home up to code that can block crowing sounds?
You don’t know about chicken wire for your crops?
You can’t spend 3 cents of water to wash a little shit off your porch as if other wild birds can come and drop too?
What a miserable soul you and the rest of the anti-chicken crew are!
You might be surprised. This is literally a world-famous meme on the interwebz.
https://imgflip.com/i/1tmqym
I wouldn’t discriminate, some women are just naturally loud.
The Tourists absolutely DO NOT like the foul chickes and particularly the ROOSTERS that are so dumb they crow at all hours of the day
What’s the hold up? If it was 176 cats in Little Cayman, use your imagination to understand the issue in Grand Cayman.
It would be a gargantuan effort needed. There are many more feral cats here, and they breed so quickly. This would need a methodical, and very expensive approach.
Chickens, same.
Put a bounty on them. It worked for the green iguanas. No cat will be safe if it isn’t kept indoors. Then do the same for the chickens.
You know you’d get people breeding them just to kill and collect the bounty?
I heard cats make good house slaves than dogs on other islands. Hence, I don’t see much happening in this matter.