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NEWS-PRESS (Ft Myers, Florida) 19 December 04 Large-scale iguana hunt falls short - Gasparilla Island's reptile nuisances escape capture after daylong search (Melanie Payne)
Halftime on the island and there stood the score: Hunters 6, Iguanas 2,000.
Things were not going well for the members of the iguana round-up team. One six-person squad spent 20 minutes stalking Gasparilla Island's nuisances only to bag a little female the size of steak fry.
The search-and-seizure operation was commissioned by the Gasparilla Island Conservation & Improvement Association, which is a nonprofit conservation group on the island. The 7-mile stretch of paradise between Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico is inundated with spiny-tailed iguanas — a non-native species that threaten the habitat and breeding of more desirable animals such as sea turtles and gopher tortoises. The iguana population on Gasparilla Island has been estimated between 2,000 and 10,000, far outnumbering the 1,000 year-round human inhabitants.
Cooler temperatures send the iguanas underground. And many residents weren't home to give searchers permission to come onto their property, said round-up leader Jamie Mitchell of Pinellas County.
"Weather is not on our side," Mitchell said Friday evening before the round-up, already sounding pessimistic. Mitchell planned to rescue and find homes for the iguanas after they were tested for salmonella and sociability.
By Saturday afternoon it had warmed up a bit, but Mitchell and her volunteers seemed frazzled and irritable after hours of hunting yielded only a half-dozen captives. Stacks of opaque plastic containers sat empty in the back of an SUV and the volunteers' fishing nets drooped at their sides. Meanwhile, iguanas in the 2-to-3-foot range languished on dunes across the road on state property where the mission wasn't authorized.
The best way to reduce the numbers is to get rid of breeding adults, not hatchlings, said Louis Porras, a Utah-based publisher of biological science books and co-author of book about frogs, lizards, turtles and snakes in South Florida. He endorsed shooting the animals and pulling up and destroying their nests after they've laid eggs. He doesn't advocate poison because it could adversely affect other wildlife. And small round-ups, like the one this weekend, probably won't have much effect on eradication efforts, Porras said.
What may help, however, is something completely out of human control — the cold snap predicted for later in the week.
"When the temperature reaches freezing, it will kill a lot of iguanas," Porras said.
Large-scale iguana hunt falls short

I know a lot of herpers in Pinellas County (Clearwater, FL, where I live), but I'd never heard of any of these people who went to Gasparilla Island.

Their methods and timing were rather strange as well, given the current "cool snap" and other factors. Heck, I have trouble catching one juvenile green iguana when he gets loose! The fact they only caught a couple of these spiny guys doesn;t surprise me in the least.

As for the "expert" from Utah -- shooting thousands of iguanas in a populated area is simply stupid, and nowhere near as easy as he thinks it would be.

Someone needs to develop an iguana contraceptive; it works quite well for controlling populations of other species such as deer.
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Scott Robert Ladd
1.0.0 Iguana (Rex)
1.0.0 African Giant Plated Lizard (Clyde)
1.0.0 Uro mali (Wizard)
0.1.0 Corn Snake (Amber)
1.1.0 Red-Eared Sliders (Jade and Emerald)
0.4.0 Homo sapiens (Maria, Elora, Becky, Tessa)
blog: http://chaoticcoyote.blogspot.com/

ok to all who question us, the reason we went wasnt to be able to clear the island of its worries of the reptiles. knowing that the cold may play a factor was very relevent. however, we were able to look at the highest populated areas and see where the most help is in fact needed. we were able to do such. the weather did play a major part in the issue as to deciding the best paln of action.
everyone there was there out of their own pocket and did what we could with the availablity of areas as well as other issues.
the attempt was a sucess as far as seeing where we are needed and what we are up against. however, people sem to be wanting to throw around their opinion yet i didnt see anyone other than us there free, no $ exchange nor no one asking. we did have a room provided and that was very nice, however, we did not expect to remove thousands at the time we knew that wasnt pheasable, yet the media changes and edits any way they wish. i am not trying to start a forum warbut understand that they are in need of help, not thousands of dead reptiles covering the land, but hmes and people who really care as we do.

we will be returning at an non disclosed time and do all we can do. rather than sit and discriminate people for their efforts, how about joining the cause. read the articles that got us involved and help.

freeze them, shoot them just kill them. they are non native from florida, being an Mexico lizard therefor, they did not get here alone and will not leave alone.
there is resturants there whom choose to feed them as the news witessed, they were confronted and told that they are in fact placing their customers at risk and they guy shrugged it off.
that is fact that iguanas can carry infectious anad sometimes deadly infections, virus etc therefor we tried to teach or educate while there. if one person stops feeding then we did accomplish something.
however if we keep our eyes closed to something as severe as this situation, we do nothing but aid in the killing of many many reptiles that are there due to ignorance.

for those who choose to put us down for our efforts, where were you? we needed help yet i saw only people whom someone arrnged through asking for the help. did you come? did you offer?

before putting us down, please understand that we were there from the heart. not any other reason. the sole purpose of us returning is to do all we can to prevent the killing and cruility of animals. we are not gpoing there for media which is one reason that we havent been heard of we do it out of love not popularity.we have done this for quite some time. join us will you? if not, please dont ut us down for trying.