Christine Watterson.MaóThe owners of the Illa de l´Aire, in the Sant Lluís district, have presented a complaint to the courts about the filming of a documentary on the "sargantana negra" (black lizard) and the "rapa mosquera" (Dragon´s Mouth plant) on the island by a BBC team led by David Attenborough, which was recorded without their consent at the beginning of April.
The Head of the Natural Science Section at the IME, the biologist and naturalist Valentin Pérez Mellado, has made a statement to the police as he acted as guide to the team and the Institute of Menorcan Studies paved the way for the BBC to film. He affirmed that the IME had informed the owners of the island about the scientific activities planned for the island this year and that this included the BBC documentary for which the owners had demanded 3,000 euros for the right to film.
Pérez Mellado confirmed that the expedition had been granted the relevant permissions to film for ten days by the local Council for the Environment. He added that the team had kept to the public areas of the island and had never trespassed on any private land. He expressed his surprise at the situation as the proprietors of the Illa de l´Aire have always appeared to collaborate in scientific initiatives on the island and in its promotion and he believes that the BBC documentary will generate a lot of media interest which will be beneficial to Menorcan society.
The biologist said that he did not know whether the judge had decided to take the matter further or whether the case had been filed but that, in any case, IME had always shown respect to the island´s owners and would not wish, under any circumstance, to cause problems during investigations.
The BBC´s filming on Illa de l´Aire was prompted by the strange relationship between the "sargantana negra" and the "rapa mosquera", two species endemic to the island.
