Iguana 10.1


23IguanaMarch 2003

I.I.S. T-Shirts!

B. Cyclura
nubila nubila

A. Mona Island
Iguana

InternationalIgu
ana Society

Iguana iguana

The

C. Iguana
iguana

each, plus $3 for postage &
handling ($1 P&H for 
each additional shirt)

Sizes available:  Medium, Large, and X-Large.
Specify design A, B, or C.

Send check or money order to:
International Iguana Society, Inc.
133 Steele Road
West Hartford, CT 06119

$13

Dr. Timothy Durkins, D.P.M.

1953–2002

Of all the wonder-
ful friends I have 
made through the
International Iguana
Society, I will always
remember the remark-
able Dr. Timothy
Durkins (“that’s DPM,
not DVM! I’m a podi-
atrist, not a veterinar-

ian!”). Many who attended the IIS barbecue at the
CT Iguana Sanctuary some years back will fondly
remember “Dr. Tim,” who sat serenely on my
back porch and regaled visitors with tales of his
many eccentric extended family members and the
love of his life, the irascible Miss Sukieman
Bardudi. Sukie was a six-year-old female
Rhinoceros Iguana, who Tim regarded as part
goddess, part spiritual familiar, and part demand-
ing roommate. When Sukie died of a pervasive
liver infection, Tim was devastated. With chronic
health problems that had left him unable to work
for many years and a diagnosis of cancer, Tim
needed another animal to fill his life. That animal
was Dash, a four-year-old male Rhinoceros Iguana
that I had raised. Dash was never able to actually
live with Tim as endless chemotherapy sessions left
him weaker and repeatedly hospitalized. To the
very end, Tim believed that his disease would sim-
ply go into remission at some point and he and
Dash would go home together. A copy of the
Iguana Times was always in Tim’s hospital room
and iguana photos at his bedside. He would
occupy himself with ideas to raise funds for the IIS
and iguana conservation, and with producing
handwritten manuals for me on how to care for
the various rescued reptiles that end up in my
house. The animals and I will all miss Dr. Tim
dearly. A donation to the Blue Iguana Fund has
been made in his honor.

AJ Gutman

O B I T U A R Y

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