Posted on 06/22/2018 1:11:41 PM PDT by Red Badger
South Florida’s not quite Jurassic Park, but it’s getting close.
Packs of green iguanas are swarming seawalls, roaming yards and parks, and leaving a path of destruction and filth in their wake. Like a shot of espresso, the hot summer sun has stoked activity in the cold-blooded creatures, which experts say may be at record numbers.
“This year is the most iguanas I’ve seen and I’ve been in business for nine years,” says Thomas Portuallo, owner of Fort Lauderdale-based Iguana Control. He says the invasive lizards are out of control with “many hundreds of thousands” creeping around Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
The prehistoric populations are multiplying like rabbits, and causing internet, phone and power outages (barbecued lizard, anyone?), damaging landscapes, levees, seawalls, roofs and patios, and contaminating pools with poop.
“There’s no real way to come up with a valid estimate of the number of green iguanas in Florida. But the number would be gigantic,” says Richard Engeman, a biologist for the National Wildlife Research Center. “You could put any number of zeros behind a number, and I would believe it.”
And the critters have residents steamed up — literally.
About 8 percent of power outages, or 9,200 a year, are caused by animals and birds, says Richard Beltran, a Florida Power and Light spokesman. In South Florida, iguanas are the second leading cause of power outages, behind squirrels. But that’s well behind power failures caused by vegetation, Beltran points out. FPL uses raptor guards and bird diverters to cover 75,000 miles of power lines, switches and conductors at 600 substations, he says. If an animal touches two of the three power lines attached to a pole, that's when current zaps them, Beltran says.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
I used to work with a guy from Trinidad and Tobago.
He claimed they were delicious.
We are in the Boca Grand area and they are all over the place. They estimated about 10k, supposedly they got rid of many, but the buggers have multiplied like border crossers, they are all over the surrounding areas.
Rather have iguanas than Democrats...
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Hell yes!
Invasive vines killing our forests, invasive weeds taking over our fields, and those stinking huge carp from china, pythons, wild boar, and now iguanas. Sounds like a Biblical thing but who’s listening?
Well, here’s a money making opportunity for you:
We have so many ‘undocumented immigrants’ from Central and South America now, AND they consider Iguana meat a delicacy, AND iguana leather products are very expensive, you can open a restaurant specializing in FRESH iguana dishes, and sell the hides for pocketbooks and shoes!.........................
At least you can eat iguanas......................
Iguana is Spanish for chicken of the tree.
Exactly!
Love that tune...points for remembering the band is Wall of Voodoo!
Fuel for immigrants
Florida? Iguanas can eat oranges but usually don’t becaus they are acidic.
Back in 2013, we went to Seabase in FL on Munson Island. While doing an introductory overview, 2 iguanas came out of no where; huge; 3 feet long. Our mate took his walking strick and bashed the crap out of it. It’s eyeball was knocked out. That’s when the boys learned the true lesson about “do no harm.” Be kind to most animals, unless they are harmful or invasive! Democraps may want to heed that warning!
Florida needs a really good three day freeze to kill off all these vermin. Hopefully it’ll kill the pythons too.
yep, don’t make bands like that anymore.
Import some pythons, that’ll get rid of them. Oops!
they taste like chicken
organic and free range - sounds like a business opportunity
We have had some really cold weather the past few winters and iguanas were ‘falling out of trees’ and pythons were freezing to death.
BUT not nearly enough to make any difference, and the ones that survive are better at it, so each successive generation gets hardened to the weather................
Last time I was at Greynolds they had recently imported Scarlet Ibis to the park.
Beautiful, but they started inbreeding with the native white ibis, so there was all shades from white to scarlet. Pure scarlet was kinda rare.
“Are they good for anything? Food? Leather boots?”
And they got a hell of a band....
taste like chicken.
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