The record-breaking cold snap that hit Florida over the weekend had some South Floridians shivering — and others completely stunned.
Across the region, cold-stunned iguanas piled up and longtime trapper Blake Wilkins was among many professionals who were collecting them by the hundreds.
“ The sheer numbers of 'em was surprising," said Wilkins, who has been removing iguanas for a decade.
Officials at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which issued a special permission for people to move the live lizards during the cold spell, said over 5,000 iguanas were left at drop-off locations in South Florida.
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Wilkins, who owns Red Line Iguana Removal, said the cold snap helped his team catch almost 3,000 iguanas in just two days.
"Even knowing that it was getting as cold as it was going to, I'm still kinda borderline shocked with how many we found and got," the iguana trapper said.
Iguanas are cold-blooded and cannot regulate their own body heat. So, when temperatures dip below 40, some become stunned while others die.
Wilkins explained that if the lizards are exposed to temperatures in the 30s and strong winds, they would probably succumb to the cold. Given the temperature fluctuations in recent days, he estimated at 50-50 the chances that the iguanas his team collected were dead or stunned.
Removal without permits
Usually, moving a live invasive species requires a permit, but the FWC saw this cold snap as an opportunity to deal with the invasive species.
“As an invasive species, green iguanas have negative impacts on Florida’s environment and economy," said FWC Executive Director Roger Young.
Officials issued a two-day temporary executive order that allowed people to move the live — yet cold-stunned — iguanas they encountered in their property, parks or in the wild.
After the temporary order ran out, the FWC reported over 5,195 iguanas were turned in.
FWC staff have since been coordinating the transfer of live iguanas to the care of permit holders when possible, including for sale outside of the state, while "humanely" killing any others, according to the commission,
Ongoing problem
Wilkins, the trapper, said the main calls he gets for removals are because the lizards can cause landscape destruction, burrow and invade land, and leave droppings.
Although the cold snap helped get rid of some of the iguanas, he said it won’t solve the invasive iguana population problem in South Florida.
“ They're going to reproduce and they're gonna pass that behavior on to offspring," Wilkins said. "So, it could potentially cause a bigger issue in the future if you don't stay on it.”
According to the FWC, members of the public can "humanely" kill green iguanas year-round on their property. But the commission recommends against bringing cold-stunned iguanas into homes, and suggest contacting professional wildlife control operators for safe and humane removal.
