NORTH PORT SUN (Florida) 19 November 06 Heads or tails, it's $20 per lizard (John Haughey)
Boca Grande: A Sarasota County trapper will be paid $20 for each fully grown iguana captured and killed on Gasparilla Island during the first 12 months of what could be a multi-year feral lizard eradication program.
Trapper Wildlife Service of Sarasota was awarded the contract Thursday by the Gasparilla Island Special Improvement Advisory Committee.
The company was one of five licensed trappers that submitted offers for the contract and was the lowest of three that qualified in the sealed-bid process.
Trapper Wildlife Service of Sarasota's bid edged a $21 per head bid by Animal Cracker Trapping, which was awarded the secondary contract.
If Trapper Wildlife Service doesn't perform satisfactorily, the committee could give Animal Cracker the contract at $20 a head.
The contract stipulates that iguana under 12 inches fetch 75 percent of the fully grown rate -- $15 each -- and 10 hatchlings equal one adult, or $2 each.
The 22-page contract crafted by the Lee County Purchasing Department calls for the vendor to trap and kill an estimated 10,000 iguana on the Lee County side -- or south end -- of Gasparilla Island.
The contract excludes state-owned land and does not include the north end of the island, which is in Charlotte County.
Last March, Lee County commissioners agreed to levy $49 for every $1 million in assessed property value on the island to finance eradication of the iguanas, which have overrun Gasparilla over the last 30 years.
The assessment will generate about $60,000 a year for the program and is expected to be in place at least three years.
Charlotte County is not a partner in the contract, but is weighing options for the island's north end, which is infested by at least 2,000 iguana.
Charlotte's eradication program may be more complex than Lee's because the feral lizards have migrated off the island to Placida and are infiltrating the Cape Haze Peninsula.
Last July, Charlotte County commissioners increased annual fees for 770 landowners in an island assessment district to pay for road maintenance from $30 to $45 to generate $30,000 a year for an iguana control program.
Charlotte County is negotiating with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to study how the feral lizards should be eliminated on the island's north end.
The Lee County iguana contract explicitly forbids any trapped iguana leaving the island alive, but required they be dispatched by "humane" American Veterinarians Medical Association's guidelines.
The contract specifically banned freezing iguana after they were captured.
However, advisory board members amended the contract to allow for a variety of ways to kill the lizards, including pellet gunshot, stunning and freezing.
Heads or tails, it's $20 per lizard