Interesting call today . . . Not your normal “Please Help Me” to get rid of my Iguana call. Although I was able to remove five Iguanas today, bringing my year to date total to 53. Instead, it was the Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center who wants to do a scientific study of our Iguana’s as an invasive species of Florida.
They originally called the State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to ask for Iguanas to study and dissect. Since I am registered with the State as an Iguana Wildlife Control Officer, they referred the Discovery Center to me.
By studying the Iguana, we can learn much about what makes them so prolific here in our unique environment in South Florida. What do they eat, what are their reproduction limits, can we alter their reproductive biology like scientists have done with mosquitoes, or are there certain plants or methods to repel Iguanas from a location? Lots of questions that science and study may have answers to.
The Discovery Center has a lot of great offerings, mostly marine educational and very family | kid oriented. To name a few, I liked . . . Science Saturday where kids get to become scientists for the day, Bay Babies for kids 3 to 6 to learn about the Sea and Classroom Dissection where participants find out what’s “Under the Hood” to see what makes these critters tick, what they eat and what resources we might employ to remove these invasive species from Florida. Currently they are studying and dissecting Lionfish – another beautiful invader recking havoc on our environment.
Learn more at their website – https://www.tbwdiscoverycenter.org/
Down Goes Iguana is happy to help them study and share information on our non-native pest with the public. The next 5 to 10 Marco Island Iguanas will be frozen, packed in ice and will be heading north up to Tampa for their continued studies and educational sessions. So glad to see a great organization like the Tampa Bay Watch stepping up to share and inform young and old about the ecological issues that invasive species have on our ecosystem. Check them out and look at their event calendar. It’s too bad they are not closer to Marco Island for our residents and kids to visit more often.
You can reach Down Goes Iguana at 239-344-7706.