Iguana roundup

Ocean Ridge gets serious about the pests.

Homeowners fed up with iguanas damaging their yards have been hiring trappers to intervene. Now, one South Florida community plans to offer a helping hand.

Ocean Ridge is considering spending $16,000 to hire a contractor to help tame the iguana invasion. “Maybe if we have some success in our program, we can convince some of the other local communities to invest some money to eradicate them or at least keep the population down,” Mayor Jim Bonfiglio told WPTV-Ch. 5.

Iguanas have been thriving in recent months, often being seen by people’s canals and backyards. Some residents consider the herbivores a nuisance because they eat their way through gardens and leave what they digest on patios.

At a recent meeting, town leaders endorsed spending the money for the iguana-control program, the details of the contract to be worked out after the town budget is approved. The contractor would remove iguanas from public, town-owned areas, and the town would evaluate the progress.

Town Manager James Titcomb likened the proliferation of iguanas to that of the pythons in the Everglades, according to the Coastal Star newspaper. “They weren’t anybody’s problem until they were a problem that had grown exponentially,” Titcomb said.