Florida’s inhumane solution to its iguana problem is doomed to failure
Even if the iguanas are humanely captured and killed, there is no science-backed evidence to show that such an approach will effectively reduce the state’s population of iguanas in the long term. Above, a green iguana recuperating at the South Florida Wildlife Center. Photo by Christine Capozziello/The HSUS
Florida, in the midst of an explosion in the population of green iguanas, is actively encouraging residents to kill the animals “whenever possible” around their homes or on public lands. This irresponsible directive from the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is not accompanied by any guidance on how such killing should be conducted, which all but ensures that the animals will be randomly pursued and persecuted, resulting in massive suffering and cruel deaths.
Even if the animals were humanely captured and killed, there is no science-backed evidence to show that such an approach will effectively reduce the state’s population of iguanas in the long term.
Last year we reported that the commission had hired contractors from the University of Florida to trap and kill iguanas either with bolt guns or by smashing their heads against hard objects. Conscripting Florida residents to kill the animals amplifies that archaic approach and reinforces a troubling message — that animals seen as “pests” or as a nuisance should be summarily killed.
It’s still worse that many Floridians are unlikely to be able to tell the difference between native and nonnative iguanas. Thus, this program of indiscriminate killing will likely adversely impact other lizards and iguanas who are likely to be misidentified and targeted by residents.
From time to time, we’ve found occasion and good reason to cooperate with the commission and to support its decisions. But this isn’t one of those times, not least because, again and again, when it comes to invasive species, Florida has disappointed us. Most conspicuously, it has failed to properly regulate the pet trade in wild and invasive species, which is a primary cause of the rise in populations of invasive amphibian and reptile species throughout the state. Florida is one of the very rare state wildlife agencies that does not recommend lethal control of coyotes for conflict reasons, and encourages humane solutions like education and hazing instead. We urge the commission to extend this progressive and humane attitude to iguanas.
More than 500 non-native fish and wildlife species have been observed in the state, and most of these got into Florida habitats through escape or unauthorized release from pet owners. As a result, there are Burmese pythons in the Everglades, Nile monitor lizards in Cape Coral and Cuban treefrogs in more than 36 Florida counties.
The green iguana, now being targeted, is one of three members of the iguana family established in mainland South Florida (the Mexican spiny-tailed iguana and the black spiny-tailed iguana are the others). Green iguanas have been in South Florida since the 1960s, likely rafting in from native home ranges as a result of hurricanes and other natural events. In the 1980s, the green iguana was top of the charts for the pet reptile trade, and as a result its population rocketed. Pet owners began releasing iguanas into the wild when they got too large, too aggressive or too sick. These former pets, along with escapees and refugees from exotic animal shipments, expanded their hold on areas around southern Florida’s bays, canals, ponds, impoundments and drainage ditches.
Climate change isn’t helping the situation either, because warming temperatures have made Florida an ever more hospitable range for these species. Iguanas are long-lived and fertile, and in the absence of predators and competitors for food, they are likely to expand northward into the state.
Here’s the bottom line. Attempting to reduce iguana populations without addressing the root causes of the problem will only result in a continuous cycle of killing, with no end in sight and no genuine relief from conflicts residents are experiencing.
The directive on iguanas is also creating unforeseen public safety problems: according to news reports an iguana hunter armed with a pellet gun shot and injured a man who was cleaning a pool at a residence in Boca Raton this week. A woman who spoke to the local media, said, “Iguanas are everywhere, if neighbors are gonna be like the Wild West and shoot at everything someone’s gonna get killed.”
What Florida needs is scientific, practical and humane solutions to the problem, beginning with a ban on the sale and trade of these animals. As of now the state still allows the sale of green iguanas and does not require a permit to possess green iguanas as personal pets. Iguanas released into the environment from this situation will continue to establish themselves no matter how many animals are killed.
The FWCC should also adopt a comprehensive and humane program for managing conflicts with iguanas, such as the one that they promote for solving conflicts with coyotes, one that takes into account the biology, habits and ecology of these species. The best conflict and population management programs are those that combine reproduction inhibition methods, including egg removal with habitat modification and public education on how to mitigate and reduce conflicts around the home. This might include installing barriers, removing plants that attract the animals, making nesting sites less suitable, and effective forms of hazing to keep the iguanas out of areas where they are not wanted.
Unless such common-sense methods are implemented, no amount of killing will end Florida’s iguana problem.
Your suggestions for Humane Management make a lot of sense Kitty. Hope the right people will get involved and help to implement them. It’s horrible that the FWCC can only suggest, kill, kill, kill without giving thought to how the “killings” are to be carried out. Very sad to hear of that approach. The Iguanas should not suffer. There is enough of that in the world. Let’s not add to it.
I realize you may have a soft spot in your heart for animals. That being said, iguanas are creating much property destruction and have had uncontrolled check on their numbers. Not to mention the salmonella in their feces. I’ll be you would change your tune if they were eroding your bank, burrowing under your house and destroying your property.
A bigger concern that no one is addressing is the devastating impact that this species and others like it are having on native plants and animals. There are numerous studies on these, and how the local communities are being negatively impacted. The sad truth is that these species will never be eradicated, but serious actions need to be taken if we are to preserve our native species.
we gotta kill kill kill. That is the only way to fix this. The cat is out of the bag and there is no other way to control this invasive species. We make the release of these animals illegal, but still people release them. we bar people from bringing them in and they still bring them in. so kill kill kill is the only way.,
Thank you for this articulate argument against creating an outlook that it’s ok for people to destroy animal populations by any convenient means. It sets a horrifying precedent of blind destruction of other beings without a full understanding of their links to us and our planet. I learned so much from this blog that anyone dealing with iguanas should be aware of. The destruction of other beings should be well-thought out to deal with the conflict of space and property as constructively as possible to avoid sinking into savagery that will tear its ugly head in other ways if condoned.
Let nature take its course. There is plenty of room for everyone. Are we going to start humanely bashing in humans heads in order to get rid of their nuisance? I think not. Let them be, learn to live with them. Bashing in their heads, encouraging people to kill them. How awful. I hope whomever suggested them has that on their conscious.
“Let Nature take its course” is invalid if we have altered nature to such an extent that it doesn’t function the ways it used to. Iguanas took over Birch State Park in the 2000s and were destroying endangered native plants at that park. Let the over-abundant introduced species destroy the native plants (and animals, iguanas eat bird eggs and hatchlings too) we are trying to protect is not a viable solution. Plus iguana burrowing was undermining the seawalls on the intracoastal side of the park and putting some of the park infrastructure at risk. Do you also say “Let Nature take its course” about the pythons that are decimating the mammal and bird populations in the Everglades? Or the lionfish gobbling up all the young reef fishes offshore? We need better ways to control and humanely eliminate invasives that are impacting our ecosystems.
Well said Jon,
Most people have not seen first hand the destructive tendencies these animals possess!
As far as being able to identify native from non-native Iguanas in Florida holds no water, there are no native Iguanas in Florida! They must be thinking about the Islands in the Caribbean.
Thank you!
Thank you! I live in Key West and have documentation of cruelty. I have also been subjected to online harrasment because I support humane population control. I have contacted the city about the danger of people shooting at arboreal lizards in a densely populated area. I have received no response.
To bad people want to kill Gods creatures. They just want to live to.
Come on, “somebody is going to get killed! By a pellet gun? and if you have 10 20 30 of 40 on your property killing may not end the Florida problem but it sure will cut down on the damn varmints on my property. So, for now, yeah, It is what it is – the only luck would be a really good deep freeze. Other than that if they come on my property I going to pop them with a pellet gun and dare them to come back.
History has shown humans have killed some animals to near extinction, buffalo for one, that was a big mistake and fail as far as humans go but it does show killing a species of animal can alter a population.
What a kind human you are. Love your wild west mentality.
After reading so many disappointing, ignorant articles on this issue, I am at least slightly relieved to have found this one. Not only is this an issue for the poor iguanas which are now going to be recklessly cruelly killed by inexperienced hunters, but as you said, this can even be a danger for us humans well. No good will come out of this. We have now put the idea in people’s minds to go kill iguanas and now they will be painfully killed, possibly even for sport. I agree that even a large amount of people inflicting painful deaths on these poor innocent animals, might not make even a slightly significant dent in the population of green iguanas and hundreds of iguanas will have suffered for absolutely no reason! Especially since a lot of unknowledgeable people will be killing the wrong iguanas as well. Once again I am disappointed to call myself a human. The human species continues to disappoint me every day with heartless, ignorant decisions. Thank you for allowing one reasonable article on this subject to exist. I truly hope you gather people with the same beliefs to join you and fight this horrible situation.
I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Just watched a neighbor shoot into his neighbor’s yard to kill 3 of them. The idiot couldn’t even hit them, so they fell into the water and thrashed around for a few minutes before passing. I yelled over and asked if he was afraid of them, only to be met by the typical Florida trash language. The guy owns one of the fishing charter fleets here at Hillsboro Inlet. I will stop using their fishing charter and will tell my friends to do the same, after years of patronizing the business.
Florida is full of idiots. Which one in their right mind thought that telling Florida people to start shooting animals in their back yard would be a good idea? Sadly, we’ll soon be reading about someone getting shot by someone else while trying to kill iguanas. You heard it here first…
Probably. When you are right, you are right.
Maybe instead of trying to act all high and God almighty maybe you should just let people who are trying to solve the problem solve it. How else do you think we’re gonna get rid of the invasive species?
That’s not solving the problem. They’re becoming a problem by shooting into someone’s else’s yard. I see a lawsuit.
Let’s get something straight!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_iguana
The green iguana (Iguana iguana), also known as the American iguana, is a large, arboreal, mostly herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana. Usually, this animal is simply called the iguana. The green iguana ranges over a large geographic area; it is native from southern Brazil and Paraguay as far north as Mexico and the Caribbean islands, and have been introduced from South America to Puerto Rico and are very common throughout the island, where they are colloquially known as gallina de palo (“bamboo chicken” or “chicken of the trees”) and considered an invasive species; in the United States, feral populations also exist in South Florida (including the Florida Keys), Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/green-iguana/
Green iguanas (Iguana iguana) are an invasive species in Florida and are not native to our state. They can cause considerable damage to infrastructure, including seawalls and sidewalks. This species is not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law. Homeowners do not need a permit to kill iguanas on their own property, and the FWC encourages homeowners to humanely kill green iguanas on their own property whenever possible. Iguanas can also be killed year-round and without a permit on 22 public lands in south Florida.
Green iguanas are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty laws and can be humanely killed on private property year-round with landowner permission. The FWC encourages removal of green iguanas from private properties by landowners. Members of the public may also remove and kill iguanas from 22 FWC managed public lands without a license or permit under Executive Order 17-11. Captured iguanas cannot be relocated and released at other locations in Florida. Homeowners that trap iguanas on their property may be able to obtain euthanasia services from local exotic veterinarians, humane societies or animal control offices depending on the location and availability of services. For more information, view the FWC’s PowerPoint on Iguana Technical Assistance for Homeowners.
What Iguana species are native to Florida? None that I know of.
Yes bashing a Iguana over the head may seem cruel to you but remember populations of other nations actual use Iguana’s like we see chickens.
The problem in Florida was caused mostly by the residents of Florida! Invasive species can threaten true natural plant and animal life to the point of extinction.
This has to stop and the problem is NOT the Iguanas but we, the humans make our own problems like this and we must pay to rectify the issues.
And do you really believe that Florida is going to end up like the “Wild West” due to 1 fool with a pellet gun? Also remember the fake Hollywood version of the Wild West is just that FAKE!
So it seems as if the real issue are the people of Florida. So start licensing ALL exotic pets, make training mandatory and paid for by those seeking exotic pets.
My last but most important question is:
What viable alternatives did you propose or intend to propose to not only control the feral Iguana population but also to end the continuing cycle?
This is from a father who gave 2 Iguana’s to my son and we had with us for about 14 years.
Mark Sabatoni has the most rational comment of all.
Thank you. Fantastic explanation that they will ignore.
I cannot understand why, if iguanas have now taken over South Florida, that sales of these reptiles are still allowed. What???? If you are trying to reduce or even eradicate the population, why on earth would you not ban their sale. This would seem to also apply to other exotic, non-native species that are sold to people, and then end up in our ecosystem when uncaring, unscrupulous owners release these animals once they have determined them to be a nuisance. It seems that more restrictions need to be placed on the exotic pet trade, and certain animals should just not be available for sale, period.
Because selling them at this point will not change anything except maybe for new state they could infest. And they did outlae iguana sales early 2020
The original town solution here for cat overpopulation was of turning the police duties into capturing and having the cats destroyed, as well as creating an ordinance making it illegal to feed ANY animals. Of course the destruction of the cats was met with disapproval. Then the cat population was finally calmed here with a catch, neuter, and release program, in which the cat population decreased substantially. (Made the vets rich of course)
I wonder if there is a neutering drug available for the iguanas that could be applied cost effectively. I guess I’m one of the old crazies that believes in the “thou shall not kill” teachings, so always looking for a humane way.
I completely agree. Just how they found a humane solution for the cats which honestly destroy the Florida environment more than iguanas, they should find a humane way to control the iguanas. I’m sure if more people were disapprove or complain they can find the way fairly quickly but of coarse people don’t see them as anything but pests and therefore should be killed on the spot. It’s all very sad what this world has come to.
I think fruit “bait”stations sprinkled with some powdered medication that makes their eggs shells too thin to hatch or some other type of”birth control” would be a start to a solution by stopping new hatchlings. Rather than inhumanely killing individuals (which won’t work anyways). That’s like getting rid of cockroaches by killing one at a time, fighting a losing battle.
I go to Miami twice a year for work and pleasure. I photograph iguanas, amongst other non-native and so-called “pest” species. I’ve yet to see any damage caused by these animals other than some poop. But be that as it may, the biggest problem I notice is people feeding these animals.
There needs to be a campaign to stop people feeding wildlife, in addition to banning the sale of these animals as pets. Killing wildlife, pest or no pests, is usually, not only not humane and compassionate, but almost never works in the long run.
Why do people automatically turn to killing as solutions to problems? Let’s get smart and evolve ourselves as a species. And btw, Miami’s shoreline is littered with trash and plastic as well as their waterways and wildlands. That seems like a much larger problem to the environment to me.
Ok you photograph iguanas. So you claim that you don’t see them causing any issues correct? Do you photograph them when they are eating up all the native plants and other vegetation that our native animals need to survive? Do you photograph them when the retrieve back to the 80+feet of intricate tunnels that are weakening the integrity of streets, the intercoastal, peoples patios, and many structures that can actually kill people. Did you know how disease ridden their droppings are? I have a friend who had to deal with her little girl being hospitalized due to salmonella. The little girl stepped on it and it was cross contaminated when she took off her shoes and she touched her face. 3 days of hospitalization. Oh yeah the same friends dog died from same thing. Listen, I think everyone agrees 100% on one thing. It’s not the iguanas fault that they are here. Irresponsible pet stores selling to anyone without caring that ignorant pet owner didn’t do the proper research on poor animal. They are cute when little but then people aren’t prepared to care for them when they require alot of $ and space with adequate lighting and humidity levels as well as yearly aggression come mating time. I just see this a necessary evil at this point to try to regain control and rid florida of these unwanted visitors. Why does nobody seem to have a bleeding heart for the sea turtles, butterfly, burrowing owl, birds, etc? There’s no pretty or fair way to deal with this problem and it’s brutal and sad but so is nature. If you’re going to do it with air rifle, at least make sure it’s high powered and become very accurate so it’s quick and as humane as possible. It’s sickening to see these animals with 8-9 pellet holes. You should only need one shot. Be safe.
I visit Miami several times a year and I love photographing the iguanas. In my opinion, the trash is a much larger problem in Florida than the iguanas.
I’m writing an article about the iguanas. Can someone please tell me (HSUS?) what iguanas are native as mentioned in this piece? I can’t find any info about that.
There are no native iguanas to Florida.
As to their ability to do damage, you only need to ask a homeowner that lives along any waterway in South Florida. Iguanas lay clutches of eggs from 20-60 eggs at a time up to three times a year.
How would you deal with an animal of that size if it was burrowing under your House’s foundation and multiplying at the rate they are.
It is so hard to believe that permission is given in Florida to shoot and kill the iguanas without thinking about the consequences. This past weekend I witnessed how a group of teenagers enjoyed shooting these defenseless animals and leaving them hurt on the ground to die. In my opinion, anyone capable of killing an animal for fun and enjoying their suffering is capable of committing heartless and bigger crimes without the slightest resentment.
As a person living in a house with a canal in my yard, I am honestly tired of seeing my neighbors constantly trying to kill the iguanas when they can’t even shoot. I’ve seen so many of them die slow painful deaths due to the lack of humanity showed to them. People talk how they are an invasive species killing Florida wildlife, but there are other ways to humanly get rid of them. An invasive species everyone looks over and yet are one of Florida’s biggest natural destroyer are cats from all the birds and natural wildlife they kill. But you don’t see people in the streets killing them like the Wild West. I think that just how they found a humane way to control cat populations they should control iguanas cause at the end of the day they are here cause people brought them as pets and food therefore the least we can do is offer a humane way to control them like we do with cats. Just my opinion, i see almost everyday so many dead iguanas in the canal and it’s just terrible to see people shooting them all the time and kill them slowly. Btw I love cats and don’t mean anything by this just wanted to set an example of another invasive species being taken care of in the proper way.
Very helpfull blog..thank you
Humans are the only real pests, leave these creatures alone and appreciate, them , we had enough Karma !
Smashing their head doesn’t seem humane to me.
This is not acceptable. Who is responsible for these laws to kill animals. This will only lead to bigger problems for Iguanas. Please lets protest and not allow this to continue, this is cruelty.
Iguanas are highly intelligent, kind, peaceful, loving, beautiful creatures. They love listening to peaceful instrumental music, love eating blueberries and other kinds of plants. I am heartbroken and are upset to hear that they’re being killed with a bolt gun or are violently having their heads smashed on something and are being eaten and killed for money. I know how they truly are, I got to know one once through an x bf I once had.
Yes! I totally agree this is insanity in Florida I don’t know what they’re thinking.
Very informative
I no longer wish to visit Florida. For many years, my sister and I traveled to Marco Island, JW Marriott. They have always had the small lizards under control there, being why it’s my favorite place to vacation. When I heard about the cane toads killing dogs, I was totally disgusted, but now, these disgusting iguanas are just not anything I can tolerate. I’ll just stay in Ohio.
This is madness! We can definitely find different ways and other solutions to this problem. Not by killing them!!!
What would Steve Irwin do??
I understand that you might value animals humanely, but these guys are devastating. I live down in south florida (Zone 10B) and the greed these animals have are ferocious. I have spent over 2 years attempting to discover plants that are iguana proof (besides the recommended 5 by the FWC), and it was to no avail. They devoured my sunflowers, my blanket flowers, my vines, practically anything i grow they eat it as if it’s their designated gourmet meal . These guys seriously cost us floridans tons of money. I accept humanely respecting animals, but when they end up cost me money for my hard work, that is when i cannot tolerate it anymore. With that in mind, growing is seriously no joke, it takes weeks until a plant becomes established and it feels like ticking time bomb in a sense, waiting until the iguanas eat yet another plant they can find. The FWC seriously has to do something about this.