The privilege of living in Galapagos entails the responsibility of controlling the effects of exotic plant and animal species found in populated areas, for the welfare of the population and its natural environment, on which it depends for its development.

	PETS... ...OR PREDATORS? Although it is prohibited for pets to run loose, cases like this still occur, of attacks on native and endemic animals by animals that human beings bring to the Islands. The CIMEIs are responsible for, among other things, the management of pets in populated areas.

At the institutional level, the communities of Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal take on this responsibility through the CIMEI, performing management actions and providing public services.

At the community level, citizens have a number of obligations, stipulated in municipal ordinances, which they must understand and obey.

The concept of direct responsibility of the community for its environment is the raison d´être of the CIMEIs.

The CIMEIs are located on the islands of San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz, the former being the first to perform actions starting in the year 2001.

Its creation is performed through an institutional partnership agreement and by the adoption of an ordinance, since the Special Law for Galapagos, says that it is up to the municipalities to establish the conditions in which pets must be maintained and define which ones can remain within the urban perimeter.

The institutions that are members of the CIMEI on each island include: the Municipal Government, the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, AGROCALIDAD, the Environmental Protection Unit of the National Police, the Galapagos National Institute (INGALA), the Ministry of Health, the WildAid Foundation, Araucaria XXI (Spanish Cooperation), and the Charles Darwin Foundation, among others.

Duties of the CIMEIs

The CIMEIs' work includes activities such as:

	PESTS IN POPULATED AREAS The populated areas of Galapagos are no exception to the rest of the world: they are concentration centers for pests that also need to be controlled.

• Pet census
  
• Community education about keeping pets and introduced species
  
• Issuance of ID cards and implantation of identification chips in pets
  
• Deparasitization, sterilization, and other veterinary services
  
• Capture of loose or abandoned pets
  
• Euthanasia of abandoned pets or their relocation to the mainland
  
• Management of poultry in urban areas
  
• Pest control: rodents and insects
  
• Fumigation services

Outlook for the province

	The CIMEIs will work in Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal until 2009. The Municipality of Isabela has no CIMEI.

Among the achievements of the CIMEIs, the campaigns to eradicate domestic pigeons in Puerto Ayora and San Cristóbal, the programs for management and sterilization of pets (dogs and cats), and the education campaigns at the population and school level on the handling and care of pets can be highlighted.

In 2009, the CIMEIs operated independently in Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal. In Isabela, the current administration of the Municipal Government decided to discontinue this committee, despite being in charge of the longest beaches of the populated areas, and the nesting sites of marine iguanas and turtles, among others.

The CIMEIs are still working to self-finance their activities. It is expected that in the next few years they may join forces at the provincial level and ensure its proper functioning in the future.

This program has counted on the support of:

Araucaria XXI is the Program for the environmental sustainability of human development in Latin America of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation Development (SAICD).