Blue Iguanas Violently Killed in Grand Caymans

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Kingsnake.com has received news from the Blue Iguana Recovery Program about a horrifying incident that occurred on May 3, 2008, at the QE II Botanic Park in the Cayman Islands:


Six critically endangered Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas were killed by unknown persons late on Saturday evening, in the QE II Botanic Park. The crime was discovered by volunteers with the National Trust's Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, shortly after 9am on Sunday morning.

The iguanas appeared to have massive internal injuries, as if they had been stamped on violently and repeatedly. Some were also cut and partially dismembered. Three were found dead inside their breeding pens, two had been carried out of their pens and left in the tour area outside. The body of the sixth is still missing, but entrails on the trail outside his pen are a grim sign of his fate.



Department of Environment enforcement officer Carl Edwards was on the scene almost immediately, fast followed by the Royal Cayman Islands Police who began forensic work and have commenced an investigation. Dr. Colin Wakelin from the Department of Agriculture closed a large gash in one of the surviving victims and began making arrangements for an autopsy to confirm the causes of death, which will probably take place later today.

Dead on Sunday morning were the adult breeding males "Yellow” (sponsored by Caribbean Publishers), "Pedro" (sponsored by Websters Tours), "Digger" (sponsored by Simon Hicks), and "Eldemire" (christened by Kent Eldemire). The grand matriarch of the captive facility, "Sara", was also dead. "Jessica" had been thrown out of the neighboring pen and was in shock, but still moving. Both females had been preparing to lay eggs.

The effort to save Jessica's life went on into the night, but despite specialist advice by telephone from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Dr. Wakelin's resourceful and determined attempts to stabilize her, she passed away during the night.

The persons responsible may have broken into the Park after closing hours, and found a way into the fenced-in captive breeding facility. No motive is known for this act of extreme violence against these unique and much-loved symbols of Cayman's natural heritage. Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the Royal Cayman Islands Police.


An additional Blue Iguana, Matthias, has also died, and two others, Billy and Archie, are in intensive care.

For more information, visit the BIRP website. To donate to the program, which has been devastated by this loss, go to the IRCF website and under "Direct my donation to," select "Blue Iguana Recovery Program."

Photos of the Blue Iguanas after the jump -- they were originally created as plaques for their cages but will now serve as memorials.


Continue reading "Blue Iguanas Violently Killed in Grand Caymans"

Victory and tragedy at the Derby [UPDATED]

Saturday, May 03, 2008

The favorite to win the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, Big Brown, made it first to the finish line.

Behind him in second place was the filly Eight Belles, who went down with two broken ankles and was euthanized on the scene.

I've been waiting for a link to a news story before posting, but all I've seen so far are blog posts like this one, reporting the sad news without much commentary or background information. I'll update when there's more.

Rest in peace, Eight Belles. She was the first filly to start in the Kentucky Derby since 1999, and had she won, would have been only the fifth filly to do so.

Update 1: The AP just moved an addition to their earlier story:


But the cheers of the crowd were cut short when the filly Eight Belles, who finished second, was euthanized on the track minutes after the race with a fatal injury.



Update 2: From AOL Sports:


Eight Belles, the only filly in this year's Kentucky Derby, collapsed to the ground after finishing second in the race, having suffered compound fractures in both front ankles. She was put down immediately, NBC reported on the live broadcast.

Eight Belles finished four and three-quarters lengths behind favorite Big Brown, who won the Derby. She appeared to be fine and showed no signs of distress as she ran down the stretch.

All of the horses had finished and were galloping around the turn when Eight Belles collapsed, causing jockey Gabriel Saez to jump off. An equine ambulance arrived immediately, and Eight Belles was dead within minutes of placing at the Derby.

"There was no possible way to save her," veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage said. "She broke both front ankles. That's a bad injury."


Update 3: From Gina Spadafori at Pet Connection:


I think that would have been better, in a sick way, if there’d been no horse to blanket with roses. There’d have been no ignoring the on-track tragedy by NBC, which did its very best to keep from showing what was happening on the track after the race. If there’d been no happy celebration to show, the network couldn’t have kept trying to distract viewers from the truth. (A truth that could be read on the face of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, an NBC commentator who tried his best to play the party line, refusing to speculate on what he as someone who’d ridden in thousands of races knew had happened and would happen to Eight Belles.)
History and links to press coverage of this year's Derby on HorseHobbyist.com.

A soldier's dogs

Friday, Apr 18, 2008

Limit laws are always contentious. They can be used like a hammer to threaten and control critics of local animal control and shelter practices, because most of the stakeholders -- whether rescuers or hobby breeders -- frequently exceed what are often extremely restrictive local limits on how many pets you can have.

In communities attempting to end the use of killing as a tool of animal population control, the easing of limit laws is often one of the changes given consideration, because it opens up more homes for pets.

For those going but, but, but... what about noise, smell, dog poop, barking? All those things are usually already regulated by nuisance laws, leash laws, and health codes. Putting an arbitrary limit on the number of pets that can be owned, especially when that limit is very low, both infringes on the personal freedom of people who want to own more than, say, two pets, and does little or nothing to address neghborhood concerns. A single barking dog is plenty annoying, and a limit law does nothing to quiet him.

I once lived in a community where, even if you had a hundred acres, you could only have a combination of two dogs and two cats -- you couldn't even have three cats and one dog. This was a rural, agricultural area, too, so the stupidity of the limit was even more pronounced. I had, at the time, two dogs and two cats, and a friend of mine who was terminally ill asked if he could leave me his cat. I realized at that moment that, the day she came to live with me, I would technically have had to apply for a kennel license -- something I'm pretty sure my neighbors would have objected to. And I suspect my dogs and cats, who lived in my house and slept on my bed, would probably have objected to the required construction of concrete and chain link kennel runs. Too bad, because without them, and a business license, too, as well as my neighbors' approval and a county permit, I wouldn't have been able to add that one more cat.

And by the way? I owned three acres of land at the time. My neighbor across the street had three acres, too, and kept six Arabian horses on it. My next-door-neighbor had chickens, ducks, geese, and peacocks. I'm just saying: Really. Stupid. Law.

Fortunately it was overturned and the limit in my area upped to ten dogs and/or cats in any combination. But a story that hit the news in the last couple of days reminded me of that whole idiotic time, and how often pet limit laws are imposed on people in ways that help no one and harm many -- including soldiers serving their country in the Iraq war.

When Henry Carroll's son Adam was deployed to Iraq, he asked his dad to take care of his two dogs for him while he was overseas. His father, who lives in Fayetville, NC and is a veteran himself, had three dogs of his own, agreed. And then the county came calling, and told him two of the dogs had to go:


The father of a deployed soldier who is taking care of his son's dogs has been ordered by Cumberland County authorities to give away two of the animals.

The Fayetteville Observer reported Monday that Henry Carroll planned to appeal the order during the county Board of Adjustment's meeting Thursday.

Carroll's son has two dogs and Carroll has three. The county said the five dogs at Carroll's house qualify as a kennel, which he doesn't have a license to run. Carroll's son, Adam, asked his father to take care of his small, mixed-breed dogs when his 101st Airborne Division unit deployed to Iraq. He is scheduled to return in December.


The story was reported in the local media and got picked up nationally that night. As a result, Cumberland County got flooded with emails and phone calls protesting the action.

At a hearing yesterday, the county sidestepped the issue, deciding it needed more "time" to consider the matter. From the local NBC affiliate:


Henry Carroll went face-to-face with Cumberland County and the county blinked.

Before he ever got a chance to utter a word at a public hearing Thursday night, county officials said they'd need more time to research the situation.

As a result, the county said no dogs will be removed from his premises for the time being.

County officials decided to defer action after the county attorney said he'd need more time to clarify issues between several county agencies.

“I didn't expect that,” said a stunned Carroll.

The ordinance limiting dog ownership to three animals has been on Cumberland County's books since 1972, but a shelter operator who was one of a number of people who came to support Carroll said that law's no good.

“It's a badly written law and similar laws have been held unconstitutional in many other states,” said Linden Spear, director of "The Haven" animal shelter. “We hope the county realizes it's a badly written nuisance law and repeals it immediately.”


Most limit laws are just that inflexible and useless. No one thinks someone should be able to have a house full of noisy, loose-roaming animals that create a public health problem and make neighbors' lives hell, but the truth is, all those things are already against the law.

Limit laws should only be in place where they're really needed, and not used as a substitute for basic, enforceable, useful nuisance laws. And they definitely shouldn't be wielded against a soldier's father trying to keep a promise to his son.

So that time you need, Cumberland County? Be sure to take at least until December.

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