BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THERE was much buzz and excitement in Keys Village Sunday morning (Jan. 27) when a large iguana was caught on the Island’s Main Road in the vicinity of Newfoundland Bar.
On a visit to that Village, SKNVibes learnt that the catch had drawn the attention of many residents in the area and passers-by, among whom were children and a number of adults who had never seen a live iguana.
The iguana was dark gray and black in colour. One villager claimed that it was a male and seven young ones were seen with it on the roadway, but they had scampered into a thick vegetation nearby when attempts were made to capture the adult.
The reptile was sighted by an individual, who indicated that he often sees iguanas while travelling by boat to St. Maarten, and he immediately informed his cousin.
The cousin, a monkey catcher named Delvin ‘Ramping’ Elliott, explained to this media house what transpired after he received the information.
“At about 11:45 a.m., I got a call from me cousin saying, ‘Come quick, come quick up the road, there’s a big lizard…it looks like an iguana, so bring a net or something.’ So, I is a guy who normally got nets at home because I catch monkeys. So I just take up piece of net and run to the site.
“When I come I see all the guys them keeping off, so I went straight and get my net over it to tangle it, and then to get it under control and then I went back home to get the cage and cage it.”
When asked about the young iguanas, Elliott claimed not to have seen them but noted that he had summoned many people in the village to have a view of the adult.
“Well, those guys who were at the site said the saw young ones but I would say that I didn’t see any when I got on site. So we cage and we got it under control and we decided to call in to let people see it. Some people haven’t seen lizards like that for a long time, especially like the school children, so we called a lot of school children to let them look at it. So we have it there for a showcase right now.”
While caged, many curious children went to see it, and among them was 13-year-old Ireality Pemberton who said, “I got frightened because it is the first time I see one in real life.”
Unlike Pemberton, two 11-year-old boys and a nine-year-old girl said it was not their first time because they had seen iguanas countless times before while holidaying in St. Maarten.
Also present at the scene was a member of the Liamigua Taxi Association named Garnette, who indicated that he often sees iguanas on his travels to Montserrat. He noted that iguana meat is a delicacy on that island but “I don’t eat those things, not even monkey. But they are very good animals…harmless and they only eat bushes.”
Asked what he intends to do with the iguana, Elliott said, “I am going to contact the Department of Agriculture and give it to them.”
While in Keys, this media house was informed of another iguana that was held in captivity in Conaree Village.
On arrival there, SKNVibes met with a fisherman named Everton Samuel who had also heard about the one caught in Keys.
He, too, has an iguana that he keeps as a pet tied in his yard. But it is green in colour.
Samuel explained that he caught the iguana while at sea on the southern side of Nevis in October last year.
“Myself and three other fishermen were about a mile out at sea when we saw the iguana swimming. We tried to catch it but it dove under the boat. We however eventually managed to trap it,” Samuel said.
According to SKNVibes’ Editor-in-Chief, Stanford Conway, iguanas are a delicacy in Guyana and some people hunt them, among other wild life such as deers, agoutis, tapirs and land turtles, to make a living.
“Colloquially, an iguana is called ‘green fowl’ and many of them can be found in Guyana’s rainforests and even within bushy areas on the coastland. These large members of the lizard family are normally hunted early in the morning, as they bask upon the branches of tall trees to catch the sunlight.
“However, they are not easily seen due to the fact that, similar to their cousins, the chameleons, they blend with their surroundings; especially the green iguanas. They can become pets after a period of domestication but, in the wild, they use their long tails, claws and razor-sharp teeth to protect themselves from predators. They also have very strong jaws and feed on leaves, flowers and fruits,” Conway said.
He also said that the green iguanas are the largest among the species and they can grow up to six to six and a half feet in length, with the longest part of their anatomy being the tail.
“Also, they are excellent swimmers, can dive for tall distances and are very fleet-footed and agile when on land. Iguanas dwell close to waterways and, in an effort to avoid capture, they would plunge into the water, dive and surface some distance away from their predators with only part of their heads being visible as a strategy to see how far away they are from their intended captors. They also have the ability to jump to the ground from trees as tall as 30 to 40 feet without any injury.”
Conway is of the view that, unlike many other Caribbean countries, iguanas are becoming extinct in St. Kitts and Nevis because of the monkey population.
“Apart from some humans, animals also hunt iguanas. In Guyana, iguanas are hunted by the Harpy Eagles, moneys and hawks, among others. The monkeys, in particular, will not try to capture an iguana from its head; they target the tail. However, in an effort to escape its captor, the iguana will autotomise (detach) its tail, which will wriggle and thrash to distract the predator. However, with time, there will be a re-growth of the tail.
“In the case of St. Kitts and Nevis, the monkey population is astronomical. Therefore, one will find iguanas close to populated areas where there are trees and bushes and not in the mountainous areas, because of the fear of being eaten by the monkeys.
“I would therefore like to suggest that the Agriculture Department builds a sanctuary for these cold-blooded reptiles or the will soon be extinct. Those individuals who would have captured iguanas and not keep them as pets, can follow in the footsteps of Delvin ‘Ramping’ Elliott and give them to the Agriculture Department. And with the establishment of a sanctuary, the twin-island Federation will have another tourism product.”
