«Lizards are being killed by tourist rubbish.» This stark opening line introduces Dean Gallagher’s post on the «Ibiza Winter Residents» Facebook group. In the post, he shares images taken near the Es Vedrà viewpoint and videos made by Donovan Cruces Ángel in other locations on the island.
The collection shows several dead lizards among the abundant rubbish in different areas. The lizards crawl inside bottles, where most of them die.
According to Gallagher, it seems that this ‘tragedy’ is commonplace and that many neighbours and residents have found the corpses of lizards among human rubbish.
Last week, Antònia Maria Cirer, PhD in Biology, spoke about lizards and their importance to the islands’ ecosystem, as well as the particularities of Podarcis pityusensis, the endemic species of the Pityusic Islands.
‘We must also understand that it is a species unique to the Pitiusas and, if it disappears, it is not just us who will lose a symbol, but the whole world will lose a species that is a very high exponent of biodiversity because each islet has a genetically different endemic species,’ said Cirer at the conference.
Rubbish at the Es Vedrà
As this social media user has continued to report, despite the new signs at this location, many visitors and tourists ignore the signage and ‘illegally cross into the nature reserve without caring about anything’, even leaving their rubbish lying on the ground.
Dean Gallagher has therefore asked for ‘help to stop people going there because they won’t stop littering’.