Contractor failed to curtail invasive pests, town says
This AI image was displayed at Manalapan Town Hall during a discussion about using a Police Department sharpshooter to cull iguanas. The town’s mascot is a heron. Image provided
By John Pacenti
Let’s face it: It’s the iguanas’ world; we just live in it.
The South Florida iguana invasion is quite impressive.
With apparently few predators save for birds of prey and the occasional house cat, the lizards have set up shop in municipalities throughout Palm Beach County and the rest of the region.
As a result, cities and towns have had to wrestle with how to control the reptile population.
Unless our eyes deceive us, they are losing the war.
“They do cause a lot of property damage to docks, banks and areas that they like to burrow,” said Manalapan Police Chief Jeff Rasor.
Manalapan commissioners decided at their Sept. 22 meeting to shift the burden from a private company — which officials said wasn’t helping much — to the Police Department. Police will task their top sharpshooter to use a pellet gun to shoot the critters on sight.
Talk about cold-blooded. “I think we will do a better job than hiring an outside company,” Rasor said.
Giving police the ability to go hand-to-hand with the iguanas makes more sense than one might think at first blush. It’s not like officers will be driving down State Road A1A taking aim out of the driver’s side windows of their squad cars when an iguana is sighted.
First off, let’s talk about the problem with using a private contractor. The wily iguanas — they are particularly plentiful on Point Manalapan — would just move onto private property when they were being hunted.
Worse, residents saw men with what looked like long guns lurking around their homes.
“We get calls all the time because some people think that they’re out there with an AR-15, but they’re really out there with an AR — with an air rifle — exterminating,” Rasor said.
The commission’s discussion on the issue was lighthearted while recognizing the iguanas are a menace that need to be addressed. There was even an illustration, created using AI, displayed on the overhead screen that showed a young cowboy abreast a heron — the town’s mascot — trying to lasso smiling iguanas.
And, as Chief Rasor said, they do cause a lot more damage than just trimming grass. A single iguana can lay as many as 50 eggs, he said.
The iguana young are ravenous, easily taking down a large hibiscus in just days.
The lizards are not native to Florida but were introduced to the state as stowaways on cargo ships and through the pet trade, starting in the 1960s.
Rasor said he will put his best shooter on the mission: Sgt. Tracey Merritt. He is the department’s firearms range master and expert.
Merritt will be in uniform, so that should put residents at ease when they see him with the air rifle. The town is sending an email to homeowners asking if they want to "opt in" to the new iguana eradication program.
Vice Mayor Simone Bonutti suggested that bulletins be put up at the guard house leading into Point Manalapan so residents know when an officer is on iguana duty. She also suggested that one day a week could be designated as iguana hunting day.
Bonutti also said her dogs may be of help. “What if the dogs get ’em? My dogs bring me one every day,” she said.
Comments