Racing towards survival.

• Author: Hillhouse, Joanne C.
• Position: ECOLOGY

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They were the gems most Antiguans barely appreciated: twenty or so pristine, "uninhabited" offshore islands. One, Great Bird Island, hid an even more precious treasure--a harmless, plain Jane of a snake, the grey-brown Antiguan Racer (Alsophis antiguae). No longer found on mainland Antigua--which, with sister island Barbuda, occupies 176 square miles within the Eastern Caribbean--the racer was reclusive and on the brink of extinction. It was an unknown. The Antiguan Racer Snake Project-cum-Offshore Islands Conservation Project (OICP) changed all that.

The project helped transform those islands and gave a new lease on life not only to what has been described as the world's rarest snake, but also to other species and wildlife unique to the islands. It has opened up eco-education, research, and tourism possibilities. On the flipside, it has created new challenges, as the eco-warriors invested in this project--notably the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG)---continue to strive to maintain a delicate balance.

OICP coordinator Donald Anthonyson said, "It will never be completed." In a way, that's good news, because circa 1995, it was all but over for the Antiguan Racer. The Organization of American States, which contributed the lion's share of funding to the OICP, has been key to the turnaround.

EAG treasurer Junior Prosper related that, today, the Antiguan Racer population stands at about 300, spread across Bird (GBI), Rabbit, Green, and York islands. In 1995, he said, there were just 50 snakes remaining, all on GBI, which effectively put the world population of the Antiguan Racer on the Critically Endangered Species list. The racer faced many threats: natural ones, in the form of hurricanes such as 1995's Luis which all but flattened Antigua; predatory ones, in the form of black rats (Rattus rattus); uninformed ones, in the case of humans; and so on.

"The first major thing was just finding them," Anthonyson said. The find was made by the EAG's Kevel Lindsay and Mark Day of Fauna and Flora International. EAG president, Dr. Brian Cooper, explained that a 1991 paper documenting the snake's presence prompted their excursion. At that point, as Anthonyson points out, there was more lore than actual documentation.

That's changed with the involvement of partners like the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), and others. These days, there's no shortage of information about the islands...