Free Republic

City officials are discussing putting a “dead or alive” bounty on the large lizards in an effort to spark some cold-blooded killing of the cold-blooded invasive species that’s wreaking havoc in the Sunshine State. ...“If we don’t do something and take action seriously, every single day these iguanas are multiplying,” she added. Some residents liked the idea of going to war with the animals. “We have a serious situation with these endangered species, and right now, we need to take action, and it is far bigger than the $200K we currently have allocated in our budget,”

A Florida contractor whose job it is to hunt down and kill the invasive Iguanas that are multiplying exponentially in S. Florida

With unexpectedly cold weather in the forecast and pandemic-related curfews in some places, Florida is about to have a Christmas unlike any other in recent memory, and it may involve falling iguanas. The National Weather Service earlier this week warned that South Florida could experience the coldest Christmas Day in 21 years. Morning lows on Saturday could drop into the low 30s and 40s degrees Fahrenheit, the weather service said. “ Brrr! Much colder temps expected for Christmas," the National Weather Service in Miami tweeted earlier this week. “Falling iguanas are possible."

Mango season may be months away, but if you live in South Florida today, your trees may be ripe for the picking — of iguanas. Iguana meat, dubbed “chicken of the trees,” started showing up on Facebook Marketplace overnight, as the temperature dipped into the 40s. The green iguanas are an invasive species, stunned lifeless by South Florida’s occasional cold snaps, and they die if the chilly weather holds. The National Weather Service even tweeted to watch out for falling iguanas. That apparently makes them easy pickings for backyard harvesters.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Miami issued an alert for falling iguanas Tuesday as temperatures are expected to drop. As temperatures are predicted to reach in the 30s inland and 40s along the coast, iguanas could fall from trees as they slow down or become immobile. The reptiles react this way to falling temperatures because they are cold-blooded. “This isn't something we usually forecast, but don't be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s,” weather service tweeted. “They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,” the...

VIDEO After the last big freeze in South Florida in the winter of 2010 in which we had temperatures of about 40 degrees and below for at least five days in a row, the iguana population of the area was almost entirely wiped out. Yet today we now have an iguana population in the millions overrunning the area. This didn't need to happen. In this video I discuss how we missed a golden opportunity right after the 2010 big freeze to permanently bring about the permanent almost complete eradication of the invasive species iguana population and how we, along with...

The situation in Venezuela continues to worsen, as more and more massive power outages or blackouts, are now a constant in that embattle Latin American Country. The Maduro regime-controlled National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec) said that the latest power outage that affected 11 states, including the capitol of Caracas, was an energy attack or sabotage against the state. Venezuela’s legitimate President Juan Guaido, spun it differently, saying that the situation in that country was nothing more than chaotic due to the power outage, adding the outages only prove the inefficiency of Nicolas Maduro’s leadership.

VIDEO"DROP THE IGUANA!!!" That was the angry park ranger in this video ordering The Iguana Man to BREAK THE LAW and release an invasive species iguana back into the wild here in notorious Broward County Florida. Check out the really bad attitude of this park ranger who seems to have some authority issues going on. Oh, and also a complete lack of people skills. My recommendation is that whatever park department this park ranger belongs to provide retraining for him in the form of perhaps The Iguana Man himself teaching this park ranger how to humanely capture and dispose of...

Iguana by the pound While Asson and other South Florida iguana lovers can nab the lizards for free and with little difficulty, their peers in other states order iguana meat from companies such as Exotic Meat Markets. Anshu Pathak, owner of the California-based company, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he imports 10,000 pounds of iguana a month from Florida trappers. He said he sells the meat to customers and restaurants across the United States, offering boneless meat for $59.99 per pound and whole, skin-on iguana for $49.99. Pathak said his facility has been approved by the U.S. Food...

Iguanas are an invasive species in Florida and experts have seen an increase in population over the last several years. Whether it's to help with population control, or if people just find them down right tasty, reports have been popping up across the state about people eating iguanas. South Florida resident Brittany Peters is one of those people. "I like to promote eating what you harvest and know a lot of people kill iguanas since they are a nuisance, and I wanted to cook and eat them hoping to encourage those who kill them to also eat them," she told...

Smugglers stuffed 13 ‘incredibly rare’ iguanas into socks and tried to take them through Heathrow Airport. The endangered lizards were found by customs officers in a suitcase at Terminal Five when they stopped two Romanian women who arrived from the Bahamas. They were trying to take the San Salvador rock iguanas, which are native to the Bahamas and under threat of extinction, on to Dusseldorf in Germany. Each was wrapped in a sock and 12 survived the journey, while one died. Rare iguanas stuffed in socks seized at Heathrow Airport The iguanas were smuggled inside one suitcase (Picture: PA) Grant...

With this week's evening temperatures falling toward the upper 30s, strange fruit may drop from South Florida trees: non-native, invading iguanas that many residents consider more pest than pet. "It's a big deal for me," Jessica Morgan, a Margate homeowner, said as she watched a yard-long, bright orange male iguana roam near her butterfly habitat. The reptile has a slightly smaller green girlfriend. "They climb up on the bank and will poop on my dock," she said. "Fingers crossed that this cold snap will kill them. I don't have the heart to beat one to death. I hope the weather...

Wednesday night's bitter cold came like a giant Sominex for the tree-dwelling iguanas of South Florida. When the temperature falls below a certain level, the large green lizards drop out of the trees and litter the ground. They aren't dead. At least a lot of them aren't. It is as if they are in suspended animation, said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. It was raining iguanas at Bill Baggs Thursday morning. There were a couple underneath buttonwood trees and a third beneath a sea grape. All were about 30 yards from...

LOS ANGELES — A man accused of stealing three endangered iguanas from a nature preserve in Fiji and smuggling them into the United States in his prosthetic leg has been indicted. Jereme James, 33, of Long Beach, faces a single count of smuggling, according to a federal indictment returned Friday in Los Angeles. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Prosecutors say James stole the Fiji Island banded iguanas while visiting the South Pacific island in September 2002. He then brought the reptiles to the U.S. by hiding them in a special compartment he had constructed...

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. -- Death and taxes may be life's only certainties, but for folks in this upscale island town, add iguanas. And another tax. During the last three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows. Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for...