Iguanas now part of life in south Florida

UPI
Aug. 22, 2005

Animal control officers in south Florida have given up on ever controlling the number of iguanas that have bred and adapted to the life in the wild.

Most recently, 69-year-old Arlyne Reiter called Pompano Beach officials, hysterical after finding an iguana "as big as a newborn baby" in her toilet bowl.

"It was like Jurassic Park in my toilet," she told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

While it remains a mystery how the creature got into her toilet, officials say there's little they can do since the iguanas began breeding in the wild 10 years ago.

Because iguanas are originally from Central and South America, state law deems them exotic and forbids their relocation. The only legal things to do are trap or kill them -- as long as it's done humanely, which few organizations are prepared to do.

"Who wants to be the villain and capture a healthy animal and euthanize them?" said Joan Kohl of the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital.