Please don't feed the iguanas

We are surrounded by iguanas. Hundreds of them live in the jungle around our house. One is sun bathing as I write this on a tree outside the window. The iguanas around our place have the same daily routine. They favor the same places for sunbathing and eating, which has caused us to have a favorite iguana that Justin named Billy. Billy is so big that he looks like a little dinosaur. We look forward to seeing him when he comes out for the day. We don't mind these creatures at all. Iguanas are like the island equivalent of squirrels, but please do not feed them.

During my first week here I wandered down to a cruise ship dock known as Crown Bay Marina. I wanted to see what it was like for the tourists that come in everyday on cruise ships to shop at Crown Bay Marina. I also went down there to people watch, because tourists tend do the most interesting things. Hey let's face it, we have all done and said weird things as tourists. My instincts were correct. I did observe some interesting scenes that afternoon.

The sun was shining brightly down on the harbor that day, which means that the iguanas were out sunning themselves on the rocks. Many of the tourists, returning from their day of shopping, eating and swimming on St. Thomas, headed back to their absolutely massive Princess Cruise ship. All of them inevitably saw the iguanas sunning themselves. Some women screamed in horror at the sight of them, a few took pictures of them and others FED THEM.

I am a firm believer in not feeding wild animals. You shouldn't feed the bears at Yellowstone National Park, you shouldn't feed the squirrels on the Boston Common, and you don't feed the seagulls on the beach.Why would you feed an iguana? But they did. They fed the iguanas whatever they had in hand. Bananas, lettuce, etc. The tourists made videos of feeding the iguanas. The tourists also made goofy comments while feeding them like "Oh my gosh. He is eating from my hand! Wow!" That kind of thing. I was sort of disgusted by their actions. It seemed to me that these people felt entitled to feed the iguanas. As if the poor animals were starving and they were going to be the ones that save them. Horribly unaware of the environmental impact this has on the animals.

Tourism is the biggest thing that drives the economy here in the Virgin Islands, so please don't misunderstand this as an I hate tourists rant. The only thing I want to say here is: Please do not feed the iguanas. They have their own diet out in the wild and they do not need to turn into the seagulls of the Caribbean. The last thing I want to run into in town is an aggressive iguana that expects to be fed, because so many tourists have fed him before.

So if you ever find yourself on a cruise ship docking in St. Thomas, all of us thank you in advance for not feeding the iguanas blissfully sunning themselves on the rocks in the harbor.