The Critically Endangered Ricord’s Iguana and the Vulnerable Rhinoceros Iguana can once again thrive on Cabritos Island, in the southwest of the country after the successful removal of a suite of invasive species, reports Island Conservation. After extensive monitoring by a team of international organizations, the Ministry of the Environment, The Hispaniolan Ornithological Society (SOH), and Island Conservation confirmed Cabritos Island’s native iguanas are poised for recovery following the successful removal of introduced, damaging (invasive) donkeys, feral cats, and cows from the island.
The effort began in 2013 with the training of a local field team in island restoration techniques. Since then, the Critically Endangered Ricord’s and Vulnerable Rhinoceros’ Iguanas have gone through multiple breeding seasons during which the invasive species populations were greatly reduced or eliminated.
Evidence of the recovery of these species is everywhere. Wesley Jolley, Cabritos project manager at Island Conservation said: “Today, the island is filled with juvenile iguanas scurrying about, a sight rarely seen when invasive species were present. Native vegetation is also thriving.”
Cabritos is an island within an island located in Lake Enriquillo, the largest lake and the lowest point of elevation in the Caribbean. The lake is in a valley between two high mountains created by the collision of two paleo islands that formerly constituted what is now Hispaniola Island – Dominican Republic and Haiti.
In fact, Cabritos Island is below sea level. This island and Lake Enriquillo constitute the Lake Enriquillo-Cabritos Island National Park, a central park of the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo-Massif de la Selle Corridor Transboundary Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO.
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Island Conservation
2 November 2017
