The mongoose has been part of the human story for a long time. It was even a sacred deity in ancient Mesopotamia.

Fast forward to the year 1872, when sugarcane was raised in the Caribbean, and rats were eating so much of the crop that profits plummeted. The sugarcane farmers came up with the idea of importing the Indian mongoose, a carnivore, figuring the feisty critter would decimate the rat population and save the sugarcane crop.

Unfortunately, the rat is nocturnal and the mongoose is diurnal, so their paths didn’t cross and the farmers’ plan didn’t work out too well. Perhaps the mongoose gets credit for reducing the snake population of Caribbean islands – none remain on St. Thomas, for example. Though on the negative side, the mongoose has wiped out a species of lizard, several bird species, and eats sea turtle eggs, depending on the island it inhabits. The mongoose also carries rabies. Lucky for the mongoose it has no natural predators on the Caribbean islands.

Today, the mongoose is considered a pest, and is often seen rummaging through garbage cans. If you see a mongoose, it will likely keep to itself and you may photograph the little brown critter. However, do not approach it, because the wild mongoose is fierce and may attack.

Perhaps it was the tour companies that dubbed this creature ‘the Caribbean squirrel.’