The recovery program to save the Cayman Island Blue Iguana Cyclura lewisi has been hit badly by hurricane Ivan.
The Blue Iguana is the most endangered of the iguana species, with only about 30 remaining in the wild. Fred Burton of the Blue Iguana Recovery Program has been working tirelessly with groups of volunteers to set up a breeding and release program to restore the wild population to a self-sustaining level. The project had reached a milestone point with the release of the first 26 iguanas planned for the end of this month.
Now in the aftermath of hurricane Ivan, the planned release has to be postponed while the full extent of the damage is ascertained and repairs are carried out. At this point it is not possible to quantify the cost of the repairs but the overall damage is extensive.
Help is urgently needed to get the project back on course and save this beautiful species of iguana. Any donations would be gratefully received by the project at
http://www.blueiguana.ky/FORMgallery1.htm
For more information and news updates visit the Blue Iguana website
http://www.blueiguana.ky/index.html
If you would like any further information on the status of the project, or are interested in volunteering to help with the cleanup operation, please contact Doug at zookeeper@fauna.org.uk. Your generosity and support will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Douglas Bell.
The first photographs of the damage on Grand Cayman
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?ei=ISO-8859-1&c=news_photos&p=Grand+Cayman
Cayman net news
http://www.caymannetnews.com/index.shtml
Volunteer work carried out in August 2004 PDF document
http://www.blueiguana.ky/download/TeamBlue2All.pdf
