Brac Iguana Count 2012
The Plan
Throughout the month of January 2012, a team of local and international volunteers will be attempting to survey the iguanas around Cayman Brac.
During this time the team will be catching iguanas in traps and nets. If you see an iguana in a trap please leave it alone and call the Iguana Hotline 917-7744. The traps will be checked every 30 minutes by the survey team. Captured iguanas will be tagged with individual glass bead markers and injected with scannable PIT tags – so we know who is who.
Some cats may also be caught in the traps. Cats with collars will be released immediately. Cats without collars will be returned to the Department of Agriculture facility, where they may be claimed by their owners.
The survey uses the same techniques as the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme. The iguanas are not harmed by the tagging process, and once they have been marked and measured they will be released back in the same place they were caught.
At the end of the survey we hope to have a better understanding of these unique animals – their numbers and their distribution.
This information will help better inform conservation efforts aimed at ensuring a healthy population of Brac Iguanas in future years.
How Can I Help?
The survey will be covering the entire island, and may include people’s private property and yards. The team will always try to ask permission before entering private land… so please extend the volunteers every courtesy.
The success of the survey will in large part depend on residents reporting the whereabouts of iguanas which they know. If you know where an iguana is (or was) please do call the Iguana Hotline 917-7744 and share your knowledge with us.
The survey is financed in part by charitable donations from the International Reptile Conservation Foundation.
If you would like to know more or wish to make a donation, please check out their website www.ircf.org
… and click on the Brac Iguana!
