Friday, August 14, 2009

A caiman's fight for survival


A quiet, sunny mid morning (8th August 2009) was changed by the delivery of an unusually helpless visitor. A group of tourists from Turtle Beach Lodge out on a canoe ride, had found an injured spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) on Caño Palma. After getting assistance from the hotel staff the first port of call was the Biological Station to see if anything could be done to help the wounded reptile.

The team pulled together and was soon making calls to Eduardo Cascante at The Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunication (MINAET), and Oli, a reptile expert and acquaintance of Country Director Rebeca Chaverri. From the wounds it was clear that the caiman had been cut across the face with a boat propeller. After speaking to Oli and emailing photos, the decision was taken to place the caiman in a quiet place to reduce any more distress and prevent further injury. Later that day, it was transported to the National Park Rangers Station in Tortuguero, where it stayed to be monitored in consultation with Oli, until its release a couple of days later.


Over the past few years Tortuguero National Park has seen an increase in tourism. The Greater Tortuguero Area has seen nearly a 100% increase since 2003. Along with an increase in tourism, comes an increase in local migration and employment, thus one can project an increase in boat traffic around the area. This brings about the question of how tourism impacts the area.

Alongside MINAET, GVI Costa Rica has been conducting a Tourism Impact Survey since 2006 to collect data on the boat traffic along Caño Palma. Under the current Plan de Manejo de Visitantes (Visitors Management Plan), restrictions on the number of boats were placed on Caño Palma, as they could see possible overflow from the National Park to Caño Palma due to its high biodiversity. Over time, with the data collated we will be able to determine what level of traffic is utilising Caño Palma and what impacts this could have on the biodiversity along the Caño.

However, while the impact study continues, we are pleased that the caiman survived its ordeal and is now back swimming around in the Caños.
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