The Ministry of Environment has issued a warning about the threat posed by domesticated raccoons (procyon lotor) to Dominican flora and fauna, with instructions for their capture.
The Ministry also announced that the Dominican Republic has been chosen as alternate CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) representative for the Caribbean. CITES is an international agreement between governments aimed at ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
The raccoons, which were imported for sale as pets, represent a threat to native and endemic fauna.
The Ministry of Environment said that all raccoons should be handed over to the Ministry of Environment as a precautionary measure to prevent them from breeding. The Ministry has notified 26 shops that are selling the animals.
The Ministry says that its Biodiversity Department under engineer José Manuel Mateo Feliz is implementing a control program of the invasive species in Catalina Island off the coast of La Romana to prevent them from spreading to other areas of the Dominican Republic.
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Acento
13 January 2017
