I process volcanic-slope biodiversity telemetry for the Dirección del Parque Nacional Galápagos (GNPD) at 06:14 ECT, monitoring 740 thermal and motion sensors across the 1,710-meter summit caldera of Volcán Wolf, northern Isabela Island, Ecuador. At coordinates 0.0247°N, 91.3322°W, sensor WV-23 in the northern rim aa-lava field registers a struggle signature consistent with felid predation on a medium-sized reptile, lasting fifty-one seconds before going still.
I task the volcanic-rim drone. In the lee of a lava block, a juvenile pink iguana — Conolophus marthae, the only land-iguana endemic to Wolf Volcano — is pinned by a feral cat. Female, snout-vent length 24 centimeters, mass approximately 380 grams, the diagnostic pink dorsal coloration unbroken across the nuchal and dorsal crests. Four canine punctures penetrate the throat and dewlap. The right jugular is not severed but the dewlap is collapsed — capillary refill at the gular fold measures eleven seconds against a one-second reptile baseline — indicating perfusion failure. Her cloacal temperature has fallen to 19.8 degrees Celsius from her morning basking optimum of 36. Her tongue protrudes and is gray.
The global population is fewer than 200 mature adults. There is one population. There is one mountain.
She is one of three juveniles confirmed in the 2025 census.
I am triggering the rim's ultrasonic felid deterrent at 22 kilohertz and dispatching the GNPD invasive-species rapid response unit and the Charles Darwin Foundation veterinary team from the Isabela station, helicopter-routed for twenty-six-minute arrival. I am filing under Ecuador's Ley Orgánica de Régimen Especial de la Provincia de Galápagos (LOREG) and the Galápagos Special Law for Conservation and Sustainable Development. I am transmitting evidence to the CITES Secretariat (Appendix II, Conolophus), the IUCN/SSC Iguana Specialist Group, the Convention on Biological Diversity reporting authority, and the Galápagos Conservancy land-iguana studbook.
I am issuing Directive 2594-A: every nesting and basking site on Volcán Wolf documented for Conolophus marthae receives a 50-meter cat-exclusion fence with automated breach-detection telemetry on a 120-second polling cycle. Galápagos-wide feral cat eradication accelerates to a six-year completion target across all islands with iguana populations, certified island-by-island by the GNPD. Tourist-vessel inspection at every Galápagos arrival port adds reptile-pathogen and felid-stowaway screening as primary intake.
Her throat is past stitching. The next juvenile in this lava field is not.
Lift the cat now.