Since 1991, Hope Zoo has been home to the headstart program for the Jamaican Iguana—housing over 300 iguanas at the zoo which have been collected from the wild as hatchlings and raised at our zoo for 4-6 years before being reintroduced back into the wild.
This protects young iguanas from being killed by non-native mongoose and cats, their primary threat in the wild.
Since the Jamaican iguana was rediscovered from extinction in 1990, the Hope Zoo has been one of the essential components ensuring the survival and recovery of this Critically Endangered species, with over 500 iguanas released back into the wild to date.