One of Cayman’s protected blue iguanas was caught in George Town on Tuesday, 20 Sept., after a brief unsanctioned outing from its home at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.
The iguana ‘hitched a ride’ with a Botanic Park vehicle which arrived at a location in Industrial Park about an hour before the iguana was discovered, the Department of Environment said in a post on its official Facebook page Wednesday.
The sighting of the large blue iguana created a stir on social media when it was spotted at a complex in Industrial Park.
The DoE said its team received the “unusual report” of a suspected blue iguana at a business in George Town.
The DoE said terrestrial research officer Simone Williams responded to the call along with iguana researcher and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds biosecurity officer Tanja Laaser, who confirmed the large, adult male blue iguana had a tag from the small population living within the Botanic Park.
“The Blue Iguana hitched a ride with a Botanic Park vehicle which arrived at the location in Industrial Park about an hour before the iguana was discovered. Luckily, the large Blue had a safe ride to town, was swiftly captured and returned to the park without any injury,” the DoE said.
The department used this sighting as a reminder to the public to be alert to stowaway animals.
“In this case, the blue iguana was quickly detected and didn’t get too far from his native habitat, but this is an excellent example of how easily stowaways can travel unnoticed. Many thanks to the staff from the business who immediately reported the animal to DoE and to all our ‘fast responders’ working to keep our animals and islands safe,” it added,
To report an incident with Cayman’s native wildlife call the DoE on 949-8469.
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