Iguana invasion: Thailand rounds up rogue reptiles

AFP
Tue, 21 November 2023 

Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said 134 iguanas had been captured in Lopburi alone (Handout)

Thailand has captured more than 150 rogue iguanas that were rampaging through the countryside, raiding farms and damaging the local environment, officials said.

The lizards are not native to the kingdom, hailing originally from Central and South America, but are increasingly popular as pets in Thailand.

Environmental concerns have been raised over the activities of the herbivorous lacertilians, which are thought to be pets that have either escaped or been deliberately released into the wild.


The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) said Tuesday that 134 iguanas had been captured in Pattana Nikom district, Lopburi, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Bangkok.

A further six were discovered in Udon Thani, in the country's northeast, and 23 more elsewhere in Thailand.

"Many iguanas have been living in the wild in Lopburi province and destroying farmers' agricultural produce," a DNP statement said.

"The rapidly increasing number has affected the environment and ecology systems, causing problems to local people."

The cold-blooded captives -- which can grow to more than 1.5 metres (five feet) long -- will be kept at wildlife centres including one in Nakhon Nayok, northeast of Bangkok.

The department also said around 260 people across 61 provinces have informed officials that they own iguanas -- more than 3,600 lizards in total.

Earlier in the week, officials banned the import of the scaly creatures over environmental concerns.

Authorities said violators will face a maximum of 10 years in jail and a fine of up to one million baht.

tp-rbu/pdw/cwl

Animals Meant for Adoption May Have Been Turned Into Reptile Food

Michael Levenson
Tue, November 21, 2023 

The fate of more than 250 rabbits, guinea pigs and rats remains unknown more than three months after they were sent to a humane society in Arizona.

When the San Diego Humane Society in California shipped more than 300 rabbits, guinea pigs and rats to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson over the summer, it believed that they would be adopted as pets.

But most of the animals may have met a grislier fate, which has led to outrage, anguish and a police investigation.

According to officials at both humane societies, the 323 animals arrived in Tucson on Aug. 7 but were not taken into the shelter there.

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Instead, the Humane Society of Southern Arizona transferred the animals to a man named Colten Jones, who runs a business in the Phoenix area called the Fertile Turtle, which sells live and frozen animals for reptile feed, both humane societies said in a joint statement.

Officials at both humane societies said they were investigating who arranged the transfer and what, exactly, had happened to the animals. Police said they were also investigating the case as a “possible fraud” but that no one had been charged.

But a piece of possible evidence about the fate of the animals emerged this month when a Tucson news station, KVOA, reported on a text message Jones sent Aug. 8, a day after the animals arrived in Tucson.

“Do you have the ability to freeze off a bunch of guinea pigs and or rabbits?” Jones wrote to another man, who did not want to be publicly identified, KVOA reported. “I don’t have the manpower or labor to be able to do it in time for the show and it’s too much time for me.”

The show apparently referred to an upcoming reptile show in Pomona, California, according to KVOA.

Jones did not respond to phone and text messages seeking comment.

The Southern Arizona and San Diego humane societies said in their joint statement that they were outraged by “this latest piece of information that clearly indicates Mr. Jones’ intention to use these animals as feed instead of finding them adoptive homes.”

Gary Weitzman, the president and CEO of the San Diego Humane Society, called it “the most horrible text I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“It’s just the most unthinkable outcome,” he said, adding that if he had known the animals could have been turned into reptile food, he would never have agreed to ship them to Arizona.

“Nothing like this in my 30 years of animal welfare has happened before,” he said. “It’s just horrifying.”

He said the San Diego Humane Society was exploring a lawsuit and had hired a private investigator.

“We’ve asked him to do a broad sweep,” Weitzman said. “What was the motivation here?”

Robert Garcia, the chair of the board of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, said his group had also hired an independent investigator and was considering legal action against Jones and unnamed former employees “who may have been involved.”

In October, the group said that it had fired its CEO, Steve Farley, a former Arizona state lawmaker, and that its chief operating officer, Christian Gonzalez, had resigned. Both had “overseen” the transfer of the animals, Garcia said.

“The board determined that there was terrible negligence on the part of former leadership to properly vet where these animals were going and to ensure that, wherever they were going, they would be adopted out as pets,” Garcia said.

Farley did not respond to requests for comment. He told The Associated Press in a statement last month that he had no direct involvement in the transportation or placement of the animals and that “subsequent allegations have been very disturbing to me.”

Gonzalez did not respond to requests for comment.

Garcia said the Humane Society of Southern Arizona was contending with “betrayal and also heartbreak.”

Concerns about the animals began to emerge soon after they arrived in Tucson, and local animal welfare activists began to ask about their health and well-being, Garcia said.

As concerns about the animals mounted, Jones’ brother, Trevor Jones, who had helped the Humane Society of Southern Arizona with some previous animal adoptions, returned 64 of them to the society on Sept. 2, Garcia said. But the remaining 259 have not been recovered, he said.

“We have to assume the animals were used as feed,” Garcia said.

Trevor Jones did not respond to phone messages seeking comment Monday.

The Human Society of Southern Arizona, Garcia said, has hired a new CEO.

“It is very important for the Humane Society to continue on with its mission,” Garcia said, “and we ask for patience as we work to rebuild that trust.”

Weitzman said that people who worked in animal welfare were angry and upset to think that the animals might have been turned into food for reptiles.

“We just want the truth and accountability,” he said. “We’re not looking for anything else.”

c.2023 The New York Times Company

Cartoonistry fodder: Iguanas running amok among us, free-falling from trees in cold snaps

David Willson
Sun, February 6, 2022,

-

When I first began cartooning for the Palm Beach Daily News, the severity of a winter cold snap in Florida was almost always measured by the amount of damage done to citrus crops. But times change and so have the number of orange groves remaining after the arrival of the incurable citrus greening disease from China in 2005.

Florida’s citrus crop these days is only about 20% of what it was at its peak. Therefore, the only thing newsworthy about Florida oranges anymore is the skyrocketing cost of orange juice. So obviously, we needed a new phenomenon by which to measure incursions from Jack Frost. Keep in mind that while orange crops were shrinking, the nation was developing a taste for the bizarre where Florida is concerned.

You can chalk that up to Palm Beach’s very own butterfly ballot in the 2000 presidential election. The ensuing political brouhaha was a pivotal moment that thrust Florida into the international limelight. Suddenly, our regional sub-genre of gonzo Florida crime novels became very popular worldwide. From there, it was just a hop, skip and a jump to “Florida man” becoming a regular feature in the national news and social media.

Fortunately, there was another invasive pest perfectly suited to satisfy the world’s newfound kink for "Floridinanity' — iguanas. It turns out the little green goblins become comatose in near-freezing temperatures, their muscles seize up and they fall out of trees. Simply put, when the north gets blizzards, Florida gets falling lizards. What could be more poetic?

Of course the little buggers had to get themselves entrenched here in noticeable numbers before this talent came to light. I’ve been cartooning about them since 2009, mainly portraying them as a gang of delinquents at first.

Iguanas are herbivores that love to eat flowering plants. To them, a nicely manicured flowerbed is a chef’s salad. Their claws rip awnings and scar up the bark of trees. And, while they are not potty-trained, they get a big kick out of swimming in backyard pools and hanging out on nice clean boat decks, lawn furniture and sea walls. This is no small problem seeing as a full-grown iguana can generate about a pound of lizard poop a day.

Local towns were already adding trap and kill programs to their budgets when in 2010 a couple of near freezing cold snaps hit, and suddenly we had our Kryptonite.

I enjoy drawing the little critters, so I’m not entirely miffed that they make a comeback after each occasional severe winter. State wildlife managers are miffed, however. Last year, they suggested not-squeamish Floridians “humanely euthanize” them with a bop on the head. That also rated a cartoon.

But mostly it’s the freeze-falling act that has caught the attention of the national news of late and provided me with more cartoon fodder. You could say, green is the new orange.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Cartoonistry: Frozen iguanas the perfect metaphor for 'Floridinanity'

HOW COLD IS IT? 
Iguanas could fall from the trees in Florida




By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist 
Cold-stunned iguanas expected to fall from Florida trees 

© WPTV Iguana population

As the coldest air of the season spreads across the Eastern US, even some southern states are feeling the chill.

From Louisiana to the Carolinas, even down through Florida, temperatures are averaging 10 to 15 degrees below normal.

Freeze warnings and hard freeze warnings are in effect across Florida and Georgia through Wednesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service in Miami issued a rare forecast regarding cold temperatures but it was for iguanas. Yes, you read that correctly.

I - guan - as

"Don't be surprised if you see iguanas falling from the trees tonight," tweeted the Miami National Weather Service office.

The concern for people in South Florida is that these iguanas often sleep in trees, so when their bodies go dormant, they appear to fall from the sky onto streets, cars, pools, or even people walking around. And since iguanas are large -- adult males can reach 5 feet in length, and weigh up to 20 pounds -- this can be dangerous if one lands on top of you.

The invasive species can't handle cold temperatures very well because they are cold-blooded. In general, iguanas begin to get sluggish or lethargic once the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the temperature drops below 45 degrees Fahrenheit the iguanas go into a dormant or cold-stunned state. They appear to be dead, but they are not. They remain breathing with critical body functions still operating.

It is their body's way of protecting them until the temperature warms up back up above 50 degrees.

If those temperatures remain in the 40s for periods over eight hours, a significant number of those iguanas will die, especially the smaller ones.

"The temperature threshold for when iguanas begin to go into a dormant state depends greatly on the size of the iguana," explains Ron Magill, communications director for Zoo Miami. "Generally speaking, the larger the iguana, the more cold it can tolerate for longer periods."

He also demonstrates how even though extended periods of air temperatures in the 40s could lead to the demise of some iguanas. Many iguanas in South Florida have adapted to going deep into burrows where they stay insulated from the cold. They tend to also live close to large bodies of water, which tend to be warmer than the air temperatures, which help them survive short cold snaps.

Not everyone is concerned about the well-being of these iguanas, though. They are considered an invasive species, so some people are looking forward to an opportunity to rid their yards of these reptiles.

"I do know that there are several iguana hunters that are looking forward to this upcoming cold front as it will certainly facilitate them removing these invasive reptiles from the South Florida environment as they will not be able to run away!" Magill told CNN.

‘They’re not dead’: Falling iguana alert in Florida amid cold snap

January 22, 2020 By Agence France-Presse


Green iguanas are considered a nuisance in Florida, where they are blamed for causing considerable damage to everything from seawalls to sidewalks — not to mention menacing endangered butterflies and snails.

But the invasive species may have met their match in an unusual cold snap which sent thermometers plummeting in Florida, rendering the cold-blooded reptiles paralyzed.

“This isn’t something we usually forecast, but don’t be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s. Brrrr,” tweeted the National Weather Service in Miami. That is between -1 and 4 degrees Celsius.

Such conditions are unusual in the normally balmy US state, where winter temperatures typically don’t fall below 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) or so.

Many people don’t have the proper heating at home or clothing to cope with the freezing temperatures — something also true of the state’s animals.

An infographic attached to the tweet added that although the cold-stunned creatures may appear to have met their end, “they are not dead.”

Last January, another cold front saw a similar deluge of frozen iguanas, with members of the public sharing pictures on social media, and bringing them home to defrost — something authorities discourage since the wild animals may attack humans once revived.

The species isn’t native to Florida but was brought in by travelers from Central and South America in the 1960s.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has declared open season on the iguanas, writing on its website that it encourages homeowners to remove them from their property, while killing them on public lands is permissible without a license.

Falling iguanas in the forecast: National Weather Service warns Floridians ice cold reptiles will tumble from trees

By STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS
THE MORNING CALL 
JAN 22, 2020 | 6:16 AM 

This isn’t something we usually forecast, but don’t be surprised if you see 
Iguanas falling from the trees tonight," the National Weather Service in Miami

 tweeted on Tuesday. (Martin Meissner/AP)

At 5 a.m. Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service forecast office in Miami had five active weather statements covering everything from wind chills to rip currents. None of them mentioned falling iguanas, but they probably didn’t need to. The ice-cold creatures had already taken over the internet.

“This isn’t something we usually forecast, but don’t be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s,” NWS Miami had tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. The post garnered more than 3,800 likes, 2,600 shares, and spawned headlines across the country and around the world.

Jan 21 - This isn't something we usually forecast, but don't be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s. Brrrr! #flwx #miami pic.twitter.com/rsbzNMgO01

— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) January 21, 2020

Twitter reacted appropriately. One reply on the post asked, “So, is this an advisory, a watch, or a warning?” Another wondered, “Do iguana showers show up on Doppler (radar)?”
Even the New York Times got in on the fun with its take on the “Night of the Falling Iguanas. An Odd Forecast for South Florida.”

Temperatures in Miami had dropped to 42 degrees by Wednesday morning, with wind chills in the mid 30s. The cold is enough to stun the iguanas, which typically climb trees at night to roost, the communications director for Zoo Miami told the Times in 2018. When the temperature drops below 50, the reptiles enter a lethargic state and loosen their grip, commencing free fall.
Iguana accumulation of a trace recorded by Miami https://t.co/w0ZquRWEBl— Tomer Burg (@burgwx) January 22, 2020

‘They’re a Menace’
Floridians are no fans of iguanas. The bright green herbivorous lizards had their time in the spotlight last year when the Miami Herald documented the explosion of the “in-your-face invasive species” in South Florida.

Iguanas had been spotted in the wild across much of the state, the story said, pooping in pools, grazing in gardens, and shorting out power lines. They became such a problem that wildlife officials encouraged residents to “humanely kill green iguanas on their own property whenever possible.”

The edict sparked backlash from animal rights groups, and many iguanas were seemingly spared. The result, according to a story in The Washington Post, was the continued “erosion and degradation of infrastructure such as water control structures, canal banks, sea walls and building foundations."

Scientists say iguanas will eventually die off if a serious cold snap sticks around more than 72 hours, but that rarely happens in South Florida. In fact, temperatures were expected to bounce back into the 60s and 70s for the remainder of the week.

SEE It's so cold in Florida that Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park is also closed.