1,000th head-started rock iguana to be released in Hellshire Hills on Saturday

The 1,000th head-started Jamaican Rock Iguana (Cyclura collei) will be returned to its native habitat in Hellshire Hills, St Catherine, on Saturday, November 14.

The release is a major milestone in Jamaica’s iguana recovery programme, which is coordinated by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA)and involves local and international partners.

Through the head-started programme at Hope Zoo, hatchling iguanas are raised and released into the wild when they are old enough to defend themselves against predators.

Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, said that the upcoming iguana release marks more than 30 years of coordinated, scientific research, habitat management, captive rearing, predator control and species reintroduction.

“This... is a big deal. We should recall that the Jamaica Rock Iguana was genuinely thought to be extinct and declared so in 1948 before it was rediscovered in 1990,” he pointed out.

“The release of the 1,000th Jamaican iguana is not simply a numerical achievement. Each iguana returned to its natural habitat represents years of scientific effort, careful management and the unwavering commitment of individuals and institutions who refuse to accept extinction as the final chapter in this species’ history.”

Minister Samuda was addressing the opening ceremony of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Iguana Specialist Group Annual Meeting on Monday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Being held from November 8–11, the workshop brings together international iguana conservation experts and local stakeholders to review progress and identify priority actions for the continued recovery and protection of Jamaica's endemic Jamaican Rock Iguana.

Minister Samuda said that the story of the Iguana Specialist Group is deeply connected to the country’s conservation efforts, recalling that a 1993 international workshop, held in Kingston, helped to lay the foundation for the group’s establishment.

He noted that Jamaica’s iguana recovery programme, which the group supports, is internationally recognised as an important conservation success story.

“What began as a rediscovery of sorts of a species, once thought to be extinct, has evolved into an internationally recognised example of what science, partnership, determination and sustained investments can accomplish,” the minister said.

- JIS

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