Rock Iguana (Photo: Syann Thompson, Bahamas High Commission London)

In the wake of the repatriation of 11 rock iguanas to The Bahamas, Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett said recently that he is hoping that the incident spawns awareness for wild life tourism.

The iguanas returned home this past week on board a British Airways flight escorted by UK border control officials, doctors and police guard.

The animals went through quite an ordeal after two Russian women tried to smuggle them in socks through Heathrow airport in London on February 3.

Officials said the iguana’s final destination was France as they were set to be sold for $35,000 a piece.

The women -Angla-Alina Bita, and Vitora-Oliva Bucsa, from Romania were later jailed for the crime.

(Photo: Syann Thompson, Bahamas High Commission London)

Minister Dorsett said he hopes to raise awareness about protecting native species for The Bahamas because they can easily be linked to the country’s number one industry.

“I hope that this incident raises public awareness to the fact that we are blessed with not only beautiful beaches – sand and water but we also have some indigenous native species that are important not only to our existence but also to our tourism offering,” Minister Dorsett said.

“One of the things that we are trying to do is truly advance the entire nation through wild life tourism as one of our products. The fact of the matter is that a lot of people would love to come here to see the iguanas in their natural native habitat and so I think it presents tremendous opportunities for us but as the deputy prime minister said, we have to preserve and protect the resource so that it would be here for generations here to enjoy as well as our tourists,” he said.

San Salvador rock iguanas have been there for hundreds of years, long before Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492.

With only a few hundreds of the species left, Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador Philip Davis said it is important that Bahamians protect these species.

“The illegal wild life trade as was noted by Minister Dorsett, jeopardizes the very survival of our most iconic species like the southern Bahamian iguana. The most threatened is the rock iguana, which is now confined to small uninhabited cays in the Exumas and around San Salvador and Crooked Island. The few hundred that survive on the off cay of San Salvador are considered critically endangered,” he said.

“As the member of Parliament responsible for that island, it is my goal and the goal of this government to promote the conservation of these species and many others now under threat.”

The deputy prime minister noted that the act of animal trafficking and smuggling is a problem of global proportions.

“We cannot afford to lose our indigenous and endangered species or the habitats or ways of life they support and we cannot allow vicious criminals to make them extinct,” Minister Davis said.