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Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter invited visitors to help release fourteen near-threatened White Crowned Pigeons, part of the Centre’s ongoing captive breeding programme, into the wild recently. The pigeons were released by the winners of a ‘lottery,’ at the Centre over two days, after the winners were invited to drop their names into a special box that had been placed in the front entrance. The fourteen pigeons were part of a larger batch of 26 which have all recently completed their 30-day pre-release quarantine protocol. The remaining twelve will be released at a different location.

Geddes Hislop, Curator of Terrestrial Exhibits, drew names of visitors to determine the lucky winners – seven on one day and seven on another day –to assist in the release of the birds. White Crowned Pigeons an indigenous forest species, have been bred by Cayman Turtle Centre over a period of more than ten years. During that time hundreds of them have been released to the wild.

 “Apart from turtles, since 2009 we’ve been helping other endangered species, namely the Cayman Islands Parrot which is our national bird, and the White Crowned Pigeon which has changed from a threatened to a near-threatened species,” Mr. Hislop said. “We have about 20 breeding pairs here, and they lay eggs, between May and June which is their main breeding season. They are very important for the health of our woodlands, because fruit eaters tend to swallow seeds. Most of our White Crowned Pigeons migrate between here and Cuba, and most of our plants are Cuban in origin, and researchers think that the way some of these plants got here was in the gut of White Crowned Pigeons.”

“In 2004 Hurricane Ivan devastated the island, and a lot of our native birds were killed. So the Turtle Centre decided to step in, and assist. We rescued a bunch of birds, began breeding them, and releasing their offspring into the wild. Since then, the population of Cayman Parrots has stabilized, and the White Crown Pigeon has moved from a threatened game bird to become a fully protected species, complementing CTC’s release efforts.”

Each of the participants took a red cardboard box, each containing a pigeon out to the edge of the Saltwater Lagoon, and carefully placed them on the ground, waiting for the word to release them. It was clearly a great experience for the participants to see the pigeons flying high into the sky, to begin their new life.

Linden Brown who was visiting the Cayman Islands for the first time, and was visiting all the way from Rochester, New York, said, “I had a wonderful time; I love nature and this was a great way to help the environment. I know the Centre here helps preserve the pigeon community and the population so it’s really fun to be a part of that.”

Laurie Portugese said, “I’ve never done this before. I have been to the Turtle Centre but I have never experienced the aviary and it’s very interesting to learn about the history of these pigeons and how they are helping to increase the population and I am glad that I could release one bird to continue help growing the population of these beautiful birds. It made me feel good to see my bird fly away. I named it Sky.”

For more information and to get involved, call the Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter on 949-3894, email info@turtle.ky , visit online at www.turtle.ky  or go to Facebook at Facebook/CaymanTurtle.