Land Habitat
GM antibiotic-dependent mosquitoes
Dr John W Norris writes: Are we pouring gasoline on one public health crisis hoping to treat another? Voters said no in Key Haven, Florida, to a trial release of genetically modified antibiotic-dependent mosquitoes in 2016. The analysis of FDA public comment by Bloss et al was a start to look at why [...]
Premier and minister blank Conservation Council
(CNS): The chair of the National Conservation Council has revealed that both Premier Alden McLaughlin and the minister with responsibility for the environment have ignored invitations from the NCC to meet with them. Christine Rose-Smyth said that despite extending invitations to McLaughlin and Dwayn [...]
Dozens of hatchlings killed due to bad lighting
(CNS): Researchers at the Department of Environment are calling for more owners of beachfront property to install turtle-friendly lighting after more than 60 endangered baby green turtles were found dead on the West Bay Road last week. The hatchlings were disoriented by lights near their nests in th [...]
Oxitec bio-bugs ‘ineffective and risky’, claim activists
(CNS): The UK-based anti-GM charity and research group, GeneWatch UK, has taken aim at the project in which millions of bio-engineered mosquitoes were released in the Cayman Islands. In the wake of the Mosquito Research and Control Unit’s first annual report on the progress of the project, the [...]
Nine ‘blues’ released as conservation battle continues
(CNS): Researchers with the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme recently released nine more young blue ignanas into the wild at the Colliers Reserve in East End. But officials are warning that despite the overwhelming success of the project, which that has seen the iconic indigenous iguana brought back f [...]
Cullers bag 8,500 iguanas as DoE mulls options
(CNS): Around 8,500 green iguanas have been culled over the last few months since a pilot seasonal cull of the invasive species began on Grand Cayman in May. The Department of Environment has announced an extension of the cull and said registered cullers will be able to continue bagging the pesky re [...]
Aerial spraying underway ahead of peak mozzie season
(CNS): The Mosquito Control and Research Unit (MRCU) has begun its seasonal aerial operations over mosquito breeding swamps in the Sister Islands and Grand Cayman. The familiar red and white plane will be spraying across Little Cayman and Cayman Brac from today, 29 August, to 1 September and island- [...]
Conservation Law ‘ridiculous’ says premier
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has given a clear indication of just how much his new government will be backtracking on environmental protection when he referred to one section of the National Conservation Law as “ridiculous”. He made it clear Thursday that he would be repealing the sec [...]
Cayman loses mozzie guru to Miami
(CNS): After more than three decades battling pesky mosquitoes in Cayman, Dr Bill Petrie, the director of the Mosquito Control and Research Unit (MRCU), is leaving the island to head up the Miami-Dade Mosquito Control Division in Florida. Petrie has worked at MRCU since 1984, when he joined as a re [...]
Wants to rid yard of green iguanas
Is there any way of repelling green iguanas from particular areas? Any chemical or plant that will keep them out of my yard? I have a dog but he’s afraid of them and runs away. [...]
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