Hope Zoo Kingston wants community members in Hellshire Hills to help with the conservation of the endemic Jamaican Iguana.
Hope Zoo Kingston, which is operated by the Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation, is the recipient of a grant from the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support the Headstart Project for the Jamaican Iguanas.
“We want the community to become a part of the Jamaican Iguana conservation programme as a matter of necessity,” said Orlando Robinson, project consultant for the Hope Zoo Iguana Headstart Project. “Community participation and partnership is key to the success of any conservation effort.”
The Hope Zoo Iguana Headstart Project is hailed for being a crucial part of bringing the Jamaican Iguana back from extinction.
Declared extinct in 1948, the Jamaican Iguana (scientific name Cyclura collie) is an endemic reptile species. In 1990, however, a pig hunter stumbled upon a live specimen of the species, which he handed over to the Hope Zoo. The specimen was later confirmed to be the Jamiacan Iguana and its species recovery plan started.
Since then, the Hope Zoo Kingston has housed hundreds of the iguana hatchlings from the wild for approximately five years or until they are at a size to be reintroduced.
The Hope Zoo recovery programme is globally recognised as a modern-day conservation success story and of which Jamaica can be very proud.
“With all that success in the Zoo, our aim is really to reintroduce these precious animals into the wild,” Robinson said. “The project aims, in part, to counter the negative effects of human activity in the Jamaican Iguana habitat by providing forest users with other income streams that would reduce their dependence on forest resources.”
For the Jamaican Iguana, the Hellshire Hills are a critical site for their survival and for Jamaica’s biodiversity. Although the area (Hellshire Hills) is in the Portland Bight Protected Area, habitat of native deciduous and dry limestone forests are being lost.
The users include small farmers, animal rearers, wood cutters (for carving, furniture, or fence post) and flower harvesters.
From left: Melanie Litton, assistant curator of Herpetology at Audubon Zoo in Louisiana and Joey Brown, general curator of Hope Zoo Kingston guides The Honourable Audley Shaw, former Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries handling of a Jamaican Iguana as Kenneth Benjamin, chairman of the Hope Zoo Preservation Foundation looks on. Minister Shaw was at the annual Iguana Health Screening Exercise
Training Being Offered
"The forest users may not realise how they are impacting the habitats. They are providing for their families in the ways they know," said Robinson. "But we want them to know that (1) they are operating in a protected area and (2) the Hope Zoo Headstart Programme is willing to train them for income alternatives."
The conservation plan allows for training in all HEART Trust NTA programmes offered at the Portmore campus and Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) Team Jamaica training through the Portmore Community College.
"The Headstart Project is also excited to have the Ministry of Agriculture offer beekeeper training," Robinson shared.
Community members who are eligible to access the training are the forest users, their life partners, their children who are 18 years or older and still live with their parents.
"If you are unemployed and unattached youth, 18 and older, who is thinking of using the forest in the ways we have mentioned, we can help you to develop an alternative income," Robinson urged.
Contact Hope Zoo Kingston at call 876-970-2459 or e-mail, email-hopezooja@gmail.com. The interested individuals should indicate their area of interest along with their contact information.
"We will then contact persons and invite them to scheduled meetings to discuss their eligibility. It should be noted that only persons with a TRN will qualify for HEART programmes or courses," Robinson said.