Iguana Invasion!

Gasparilla Island, Florida is home to thousands of Spiny Tailed Iguanas who are now unwanted. It is said that trappers have been hired to capture and kill the creatures. Will their killing be humane?

I shot this video in April of 2006 during a visit to the island to see for myself the iguanas.

www.LaptopNoise.com

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• iguana
• Florida
• invasion
• lizard
• Gasparilla
• Island
• Tampa
• spiny
• tail

[Hibaque]

We found a lot of these in Mexico, fun to watch. We found one male in the Mayan ruins by our resort that was 4 feet long or more!!! He refused to leave his rock while we were taking pictures of them. My brother and I followed one around while it was grazing. If I lived there I'd be keeping them as pets!

[F7sound]

Very cool, but these kinds of iguanas make very bad pets. They're aggressive and pack a tough bite!

Best to enjoy them from a distance.

[Tamers111]

Awesome man! I'm right there with you. I've been meaning to get to Gasparilla to photograph them. It's not their fault someone let them loose and they thrive. I know they compete with and harm the native wildlife, such as the gopher tortoises, but like you said, do it humanely.

[F7sound]

It's worth the trip to Gasparilla - especially if you can get some nice images and put "faces" to the critters being killed. The Tampa news did a story not too long ago on the situation. But, the angle was more towards them being pests that needed to be removed. Bummer.

[Eden356]

Why are they killing them? They don't look to be harming anyone, some humans are just cruel.

[F7sound]

See my comment below for why they are killing the iguanas.

[MejicanoPorcino]

they taste better than chicken if you know how to cook them.we don't have that problem in central america

[hicap06]

I agree in being humane. Use a high powered air rifle (1100 feet per second or greater) And be a skilled enough marksman to achieve a clean brain shot.

But first decide if its really necessary to kill them at all.

[Manga1928]

well if they want a pet iguana it would be easy to get one without paying atleast xD

[FLpolo]

they do make good pets u can put them on your shoulder and they wont bite they just chill.those iguanas are different tho

[Hibaque]

My brother and I actually found one that let us get really close to it when it was grazing. I like aggressive pets for some reason, I want to get a monitor lizard or a tegu some day.

[stainlesslobster]

yeah ya see them from venice to boca grand.Dumb ass boca people tryed to protect them. And know there bitching about them.They do destroy gopher tortois eggs when they take over there dens. But I guess that's what alls those rich idiots did when they over developed boca grand. You reap what ya sow. Deal with it. Boca sucks.