Orlando Robinson excited about Hope Zoo prospects

Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor

Last week, we featured the Guardsman Group Chairman's, Kenny Benjamin, new plans for returning the Hope Zoo to its former glory. This week, we complete the story with the zoo's curator's, Orlando Robinson, role in the exciting process.

Robinson is naturally excited that the Hope Zoo will once again fulfil the purpose for which it was intended. With more than a decade on the job, and well armed with tertiary training in zoology and botany as well as the management of natural resources to the post-graduate level, he told Outlook he is looking forward to having the resources to effectively carry out his job.

And his excitement was palpable as he spoke about the growing population of our endemic Jamaica iguana that up until 15 years ago, the entire world thought was extinct. Robinson, who is responsible for the zoo's budget as well as managing the human and other resources of the historic landmark, related how the little creatures were rediscovered.

Partnership

"In 1990, there was a sighting after a hunter's dog attacked one of them in the Hellshire area. We were so excited that we subsequently began to breed them in captivity," he said. Now, there are some 300 roaming wildly in Hellshire and under the zoo's Head Start Programme, there are now some 200 at the zoo.

Under the programme, the iguanas are grown to a size where they have passed the most difficult and delicate stage of their development and then released into the wild. To date, Robinson said some 100 have been released under a partnership with other zoos in San Diego, California, and Fort Worth in Texas as well as the University of the West Indies.

In 1994, the first batch of Jamaican iguana was successfully hatched at the Indianapolis Zoo in Indiana as part of the Head Start Programme. With the paggage of time, the programme has grown in success; and in time, such initiatives will further redound to the benefit of the Hope Zoo.

Robinson is looking forward to other improvements in the zoo population, particularly in its collection of animals. Among these, he eagerly awaits the arrival of zebras, giraffes, emus, ocelots, llamas, jaguars and even panthers.

He will require more staff to care for them around the clock but there are opportunities for volunteers of all ages, including senior citizens. Another priority is educating the population about the care and protection of animals that can be such a source of pleasure, particularly to children who need to know about the importance and value of animals to humans' lives.

The new chairman of the restoration company, Kenny Benjamin, is also looking forward to working with Robinson to achieve his long-term goals. The latter is armed with the requisite knowledge in animal husbandry, as well as how to manage the zoo's breeding and conservation programmes. But he is also looking forward to the new initiatives like the adopt an enclosure and the animals in it plan and the zoo's new website is now in the planning stages.

barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com