Go after iguanas, Florida’s ‘green plague’
They may not pose the same threat as pythons, but green iguanas have become an environmental menace in South Florida because of their sheer numbers. The state is correct to start addressing this threat.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has assigned a trapper to remove iguanas from public lands in the Keys, where the infestation may be worst. Iguanas have damaged sewer lines and roads in Monroe County and gotten into toilets. Because they devour the same food as a rare butterfly, these non-native reptiles could cause the extinction of that species.
Unfortunately, iguana eradication is unlikely. Joe Wasilewski, a conservation biologist who lives in Homestead, has worked on iguana removal in the Caribbean and Florida. He told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that the numbers are too high and the environment too favorable.
So the goal, Wasilewski said, should be to reduce the numbers. Would that include organized hunts, such as those for pythons in the Everglades? “Yes, I think we’re at that point,” Wasilewski said. “I love iguanas, but this invasion business has gotten out of hand.” He has referred to the infestation as a “green plague.”
Wasilewski ticks off the damage. Iguanas have undermined roads. They dug under an airstrip in the Bahamas, creating a safety hazard, and shut down the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unlike pythons, which Wasilewski said “eat everything in their path,” iguanas are herbivores. Still, iguanas destroy backyard plants — especially hibiscus and bougainvillea — and defecate in swimming pools. They eat birds’ eggs. They carry disease.
And, unfortunately, they’re thriving. Iguanas can lay as many 50 eggs, and Wasilewski said females now are laying twice a year, not just once. They love the mangroves of South Florida. They have been found as far from Florida as Fiji. Green iguanas in the Caribbean may be crossbreeding to create what Wasilewski called “a hybrid that is everyone’s nightmare.”
We support permits for iguana hunters. Civic and business leaders like to say that we live in paradise, but Florida won’t remain a paradise if invasive species shred the landscape. Other threats come from curlytail and other species of lizards, lionfish, wild hogs, vervet monkeys and Muscovy ducks.
We also support education, which can take many forms. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is holding workshops in the Keys to show residents how they can remove iguanas from their property and discourage them from coming back.
One option is to substitute leafed plants for colorful flowers. Another is to put flashing around trees, so iguanas can’t climb them. The commission also will provide information about traps and other legal options for removing iguanas.
Kristin Sommers, the commission’s exotic species coordinator, told the Key West Citizen, “We really want to empower people to know what they can do, how we can help folks help themselves. (The commission) can’t go out and remove everybody’s iguanas. That’s just not possible.”
Another aspect of the education campaign, however, must be to dispel the idea that iguanas are cuddly critters. During the January 2010 cold snap, iguanas were falling from trees and people were wrapping them in blankets. That’s not helpful.
Indeed, Florida has such a widespread problem in part because people who bought baby iguanas as pets released them when the lizards got large. That also happened with pythons. Wild animals are not
Civic and business leaders like to say that we live in paradise, but Florida won’t remain a paradise if invasive species shred the landscape.
suitable pets. A woman on Florida’s west coast needed facial stitches recently after an attack by her pet iguana. Older iguanas, a veterinarian told the Miami Herald, “take on more of the characteristics of a wild animal.”
Population reduction is possible. Wasilewski said he removed “about 12,000” iguanas from a small Caribbean island. On Grand Cayman, he said, hunters bagged 16 tons of iguanas. The meat is popular in that region and Latin America. One suggestion is to market iguana meat by borrowing from a tuna brand — “Chicken of the Trees.”
The state must increase its efforts, because there’s no other choice. Though that 2010 cold snap was one of the longest and harshest ever in South Florida, it failed to kill off all the iguanas. Nor can Florida count on having periods that are cold enough to be fatal.
Floridians like to joke that snowbirds are an invasive species. Snowbirds, though, bring money. Iguanas could bring environmental ruin if we don’t stop them.