On “Giving Tuesday,” IbizaPreservation sets €10,000 target for installation of shelters for lizards in project to expand pilot project in Santa Eulalia
Ibiza, 29/11/22 – The first Tuesday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving – celebrated this year on November 29 – is now known as “Giving Tuesday”. The initiative was conceived in 2012 as an antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, days highly focused on consumerism, and has become a global philanthropic movement.
This year, IbizaPreservation has joined forces with the Consortium for Recovery of the Fauna of the Balearics (Cofib) and the environmental groups GEN-GOB and Amics de la Terra to launch an appeal to the general public to get involved in the fight to save the Ibiza wall lizard, or Podarcis pityusensis, currently under serious threat due to the proliferation of snakes on the island.
This crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise €10,000 to create and install some 200 sanctuary stones, in coordination with Cofib and “Sargantanes o Serps” (made up by GEN-GOB & Amics de la Terra). The stones will be placed in hotel gardens and strategically selected pedestrian areas, thus creating a safer environment where the lizards can shelter and reproduce.
Inma Saranova, director of IbizaPreservation, commented, “We are all too aware of the severity of the situation facing the lizard, one of the most emblematic species of Ibiza and Formentera. We therefore wanted to do our bit to help continue the sanctuary project launched by Cofib and “Sargantanes o Serps” and expand this wonderful initiative to the rest of the island.”
The proposal intends to build on the aforementioned pilot project started in Santa Eulalia in June this year, through which three shelters were installed on the seafront and near the Palacio de Congresos.
The stone slabs are filled with pine branches and bark and have small holes allowing lizards, but not snakes, to enter. The project seeks to help strengthen the lizard population through placing more of these sanctuaries, along with strategically placed snake traps.
IbizaPreservation hopes that many in the local community will donate to this campaign, which can be accessed via migranodearena.org, using the search term “lizards”.
