Posted on 05/22/2009 10:35:31 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Homestead Air Reserve Base near Miami, Florida, is dealing with a different sort of small ground invasion: the Nile monitor lizard.
These invasive reptiles—possibly former family pets or escapees from nearby breeding facilities—occasionally lumber onto the base's tarmac to soak up the sun's rays.
"When you have an airplane coming in to land or take off, and you have a 6-foot [1.8-meter] reptile laying on the runway, it causes a substantial human health and safety problem," said Parker Hall, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services.
Agency employees patrol the runways on a regular basis to shoo away birds, capture lizards, and deal with any other pests that may show up.
But that's a tall order given the base's close proximity to both the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks, both home to diverse arrays of wildlife that regularly spill into the base's vast woodlands and wetlands.
Lizard Explosion
Invasive lizards in southern Florida—such as the monitor, native to Africa—now outnumber native species, experts say.
These hefty predators—weighing up to 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms)—have a voracious appetite, and have been observed eating protected species such as the burrowing owl.
In nearly two decades monitor lizards have been spotted in seven Floridian counties, with the biggest breeding population living in Cape Coral, a city on the state's west coast.
He’s going to LOVE it!
Thanks, Joe!!!
Someone just came into the room........it is now Brad Approved!
:)
:)
COMMIE LIZARDS!!!!!!
HULP!!!!!!!!
LIIIZARRRDS ON A JET PLANE....
dum dum dum....
(hic)
Right, but Miami does have Cubans and Haitians. Do you think they'll believe it? The lizards might be good for a Santeria/Voodoo ritual.
I can believe this. My brother is a park ranger in Naples, and he told me about the Burmese python problem. And I remembered how NASA has to keep alligators off the runaway on days when the space shuttle comes in. As one who lived in central Florida for forty years, I can testify that just about any plant or animal released in that subtropical climate has a fighting chance of survival.
Brazilian Pepper trees, Mellaluca(sp?) trees, Wild Hogs, Pythons, Iguanas, and monkeys. What other invasive species you guys dealing with? (besides snowbirds).
Looking for something different to grill this weekend?
Uh oh. Just sent wife to the store and I told her to surprise me.
FloriDUH has a population irruption of the Armed & Rangerous. Imagine an armed and armored pithecan parasite in jack boots.
FLoriDUH has created umpteen jobs for “Fast food rejects with police powers”.
We also have cobra snakes long enough to extend into the bushes on each side of a road. It was estimated at 12/13 feet long by an expert surveyor of unimpeachable veracity.
The good news is that gators like snakes, and while the cobra might poison the gator, the gator would have the snake down the hatch before the toxin slowed down the gator.
Cobras in the glades? Sheesh, It’s turned into a safari down there.
LOL. So what's the difference between a porpoise and a dolphin?
You serve porpoise with red wine, and dolphin with white.
“It’s a jungle out there!”
Did I mention the pampered panthers, coddled and cosseted by Lil Debbie and her interagency team of CatCrats?
A five person team of those things could not correctly determine the gender of a captured and sedated cat around whose neck they had fastened a radio collar.
PS The capture report which erroneously claimed the cat was a female was signed by a veterinarian, Dr. Blankenship.
No problem, just tell people that it is a Komodo Dragon and they will pay mega bucks to eat it. ;)
ack! no, never touch that cheap stuff.. go for some knob creek or bookers if you’re going for bourbon.
that’s better, i like rattlesnake- which reminds me more of than chicken.
Would NOT be...
*sigh*
lizard legs, those are not... those are softshell crabs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.