During the last three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the black, spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows.
Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for every year-round resident.
The frustration here has led to frenzy. Bonnie McGee keeps a pellet gun by her door ready to take on the slithering enemy.
"They eat your flowers and their feces is everywhere," she said, adding that she's killed dozens. "Some people toss them in the canal and the hermit crabs feed on them." (CNN)
Guess who vacations nearby? The Bush family!
Looking to buy property in Gasparilla/Boca Granda? Click here. (Un)Surprisingly, the site fails to mention the iguanas.
A few years ago my husband went to this island for a business retreat.
ReplyDeleteThe Klosterman family owns a condo in the same complex that the Bush family has one. He says it is beautiful.
JW
JMW: Do the Klostermans have any problems with iguanas?
ReplyDelete