You glossed over an important point with Florida's situation - the initial lack of legislation regarding the owning of exotic animals. I remember visiting over 30 years ago and going to a co-worker's house where he was raising 6-7 different exotic snakes for the pet trade. And yet he was bemoaning how there were no restrictions and he and I went walking through his neighbourhood as he pointed out the various exotic animals his neighbours had in their backyards including some large cats. Coming from an area where exotics were controlled if they could be established, it was so odd to me that there were so few regulations governing this in Florida. You reap what you sow.
Indeed - many horrific "pet" owners would do so, and eventually some legislation was passed but TOO land. Many areas (Florida everglades) and other areas have such and OUR native species declined! (we are in a mass 6th extinction as it is) (used to raise breed aquarium species on the "near extintion list"0
Born and Raised in Miami FL -- 50 years ago there were none of these INVASIVE Species, but they were beginning to be brought in!! Government FAILURE!!! They Knew about "INVASIVE SPECIES" But ignored the "PET TRADE" Florida is an IDEAL place to live -- not for people -- but for INVASIVE ANIMALS!!
Funny story, about ten or 15 years ago in Cooper City, Florida where my daughter lived, they had a freaky cold front and all of those iguanas fell off the trees and were lying around like they were dead. One man decided to pick them up and take them home. No idea what he wanted them for but he threw them in his heated car and he’s driving down the road when the cars heater began to revive them. I can only imagine what went through his mind as he’s driving down the road with iguanas running through his car.
I live in Davie Florida, I remember this it was the funniest thing I could hear, he was trying to save them, in South Florida we now iguana hunters that people hire to get rid of them they are very destructive.
@@Trucker2023 Iguanas can get really big on greens. Although they are ancient reptiles, their limbs and fingers look very human like and are long and Boy, they can run really fast using that long, long tail like a snake. You can take then out on a leash. What makes this funny is that 90% of the time they hardly move at all. They love basking in daylight warmth, and looking out the window, looking just like a big plastic toy. If chased and threatened, they have the ability to release their tail that wiggles around like a snake behind them and grow back a new one not as long. If they get away from the house they can reappear weeks later when you were sure they wee dead and gone. "Hello.. I'm Back". They must be smart to do that. It's freaky. I have never been bitten or nipped. They are very peaceful domestically. I have no idea how they are in the Wild.
In Las Vegas I’m dealing with scorpions. Last night I caught six with three got-aways. The problem I’m facing is, NONE of my neighbors give a shit so I can only defend my castle.
Damn I heard about a guy in Vegas who was at a hotel on the strip. A scorpion got in his bed and stung him on the nuts while sleep. I know it must suck dealing with that
I never really thought about what it would be like to live in a place that has scorpions. I didn't realise that them invading human dwellings was a normal thing. I guess I thought they were things you mostly needed to worry about outdoors like snakes. The thought of having them around the house gives me chills. I would freak out if an earwig crawled on me, can't imagine a scorpion.
It would likely work. The trend for alligator shoes and bags almost wiped out the alligator population, so they ended the fashion trend, thus the industry as well.
It reaches 50 degrees generally within a few hours of sunrise on the very rare occasions it drops that low in s Florida. That plus the fact it'd be like picking up seashells on a huge beach. Too much area, too few hands and too little time. Common sense, scooter, get some.
I live in Honduras, people eat iguanas here, they are highly sought after. They are protected and you can get arrested for killing them. If my neighbors see this story they'll come get them.
Start a meat trade, exporting iguana meat/live iguanas back to Honduras. I seriously doubt the USA will do more than happily tax the trade. Might have to settle for shipping them live, depending on the laws in Honduras.
Venezuelan people were breaking into zoos to eat the exhibits after their economy collapsed. Nearly every large game species in the US was eliminated east of the Mississippi River in just of few decades of commercial hunting when the human population was much smaller. If 22 million Floridians were forced to hunt and fish, they’d be eating each other before long.
Those iguanas are super expensive in Guyana south America. They are very scarce and make for a great delicacy. They're plentiful because people in Florida don't eat them. They should be caught and exported, see how the population dwindles.
Who's paying for the export cost? Housing & food...waste removal..... etc.... I'm surprised gun happy MAGA Americans don't see this as target practice....invasive aliens & all😎
In Puerto Rico, there's also an invasion of these iguanas. There are guys that hunt them and then sell the meat. The other day in the news, it was said that it's meat was being exported. I think they said it was sent to the Continental US. But see, you have plenty of iguanas over there to hunt and eat.
I used to own a couple of Iguanas as a kid, those things swim, run,climb, you can literally set them free in your garden and they will thrive on leaves, bugs, spiders, etc. Honestly I'm surprised there are not more of them around.
Are there ways that they interact with humans who take care of them, that could show affection, or dog or cat like actions? They are a beautifully fascinating species.
@@k.sullivan6303 yea so? insects are not invasive and u need them for a balanced ecosystem. which iguanas destroy. thats the definition of an invasive species. they destroy the ecosystem
Iguanas, pythons and peacocks. 3 beautiful species, all of which can be culled, skinned and made into beautiful leather, as well as selling the feathers. Florida just needs more processing places for these critters!
Nature is so Beautiful with all it's Diversity of Life. Did you know we Humans share half our DNA with Mushrooms? We even share fragments of our DNA with trees.
Beautiful species, while I am not a fan of snakes why kill them? Peacocks are absolutely beautiful don't kill them. If these animals have invaded the area it's because of humans.
@@kimkelly5512 They are killing the native species and destroying the trees and natural habitat. Beauty ends where causing other species to become extinct begins.
For a while anyway, there are just too many people in Florida for any large number to live off the land... or the sea surrounding it! If SHTF, all supply chains will be broken. Food and fuel supplies will run out in weeks, or even days. As supplies run out and starvation becomes a reality, ALL large population centers will start migrating north, stripping the land and near-shore sea as they go... South Florida has over 10 million residents...
Not even close. The average adult human eats around a ton of food a year. If we were reduced to hunting and gathering, many would starve and most of our native wildlife would be extinct in a few years. We nearly wiped out buffalo, elk, deer, bears, and turkeys in just a few decades of commercial hunting with a substantially smaller population and completely eradicated passenger pigeons which may have numbered in the billions.
People ain't anywhere close as invasive. Some people even chop off their thingy to prevent reproduction...errr, because it'll magically turn them into a different gender.
@@eogg25 birds and reptiles are not that different taste wise l've had alligator and iguana, my aunt from Honduras would make soup out of them ( iguanas)
Then youve never lived in a Big City. I worked briefly as an exterminator in Toronto 40 years ago, there were plenty then as I am sure there still are today.
As an animal lover (and Mom to a former green iguana owner) it breaks my heart to see these beautiful and innocent animals euthanized, however, invasive species destroy SO much that there aren’t too many other options. Isn’t it amazing that a few negligent and uneducated people probably cause most of the problems in Florida? I know that hurricanes have not helped at all, but at the root of this, it is a human-created problem and we may be too late to help Florida. The focus now should be to eliminate any spread of these invasive species, and that takes a lot of hard work. This may be a little soap-boxy, but please people, do NOT just get rid of pets by abandoning them outside! Things can go south SO fast that it’s just not worth the risk! Ok, my soap box has been put away. Hugs from the Canadian Arctic❣️❣️🇨🇦
Here in the Seattle area we had the Canadian Geese population get out of hand and they killed off about 20,000 of the birds. The birds had poop everywhere, people couldn't go to the parks. They spoke about making them available in the food banks, I don't know if that happened.
I can’t imagine living in Florida and watching people shoot, trap and bludgeon ANY animals. I’d have to move. And yes, I’m a soft heart even for animals that startle me. Not sure what’s worse! 🦎🦎🦎
True .hence why kill the iguana? The mind boggles ..Euthanasia was the method used by nasty types in Germany in WW2.After the war many so called reeducated Germans went to US. and like other species multiplied .As they say Leopards never change their spots. The human race is 70% any thing but human
I find your remarks insulting and ignorant. I'm sorry but the amount of money lost due to these beautiful innocent little creatures is stagering. I'll tell you what. Let me send you a bill for the lost landscaping. My own backyard alone. Money spent to cultivate it. Money that was lost because of these beautiful innocent creatures. I'm on the board at my dad's condo. In Hollywood, we used to have the most outstanding building out of the 22 in the complex, but then the Aguanas showed up. Do you know the amount of money we lost there? Where can I send you the bill for the thousands and thousands of dollars that myself and others have lost because of these innocent creatures?
@@ricklesser5851 Perhaps, Sir, your remarks would be more productive if you went after the people in Florida who thought it was a good idea to just let their pet iguanas go free. Or, perhaps, you could research plants that they are not interested in and landscape your yard accordingly. The iguanas, just like the pythons in the Everglades, ARE innocent and are just doing what their basic instinct tells them to. People put these creatures where they shouldn’t be. If you do your research, Florida is one of the most lenient states to allow exotic animals in. Perhaps, instead of writing an uneducated response to someone from a completely different country, get involved in trying to eradicate the problem. Grousing about it on the internet does nothing productive. People from Florida created these problems, so guess who the rest of the world thinks should clean them up?
My aunt from Honduras would send me to Englishtown New Jersey, there was a meat market that sold the meats of exotic animals like iguanas she used to make soup out of them , this place also sold alligator and snake and buffalo and deer meat
@@nonyabusiness4151 Yes absolutely ! I had some the first time l went to Louisiana and then again in Florida, l remember you could get an actual Alligator Head as a souvenir in New Orleans gift shops l used to keep it on the rear deck in my car
This is because the US is soft. We try our very best to give a break to crimanals at every turn. From pythons to iguanas to the rest you mentioned.. We only have ourselves to blame. Its okay to understand why some people do what they do and feel bad for them but turning a blind eye to pet sellers and other crime only gets us right where we are. Just the natural course of things..
I'd like to add, that almost all the major tree diseases in the continental US have been caused or exacerbated by exotic insects and plant pathogens, including Dutch Elm Disease, Chestnut Blight, Gypsy Moth. Emerald Ash Borer, and others. The disappearance of these trees from our forests has a cascading effect on the insect, rodent, and bird populations, not to mention the economic effect on the timber industry.
Florida had a hurricane a good while back that destroyed a rather large reptile warehouse. This is how all those reptiles got loose in Florida. Iguanas being one of many invasive reptiles that escaped from that warehouse!
I always hit the like button so I can tell if I watched the video already. It doesn't do anything negative to me and it always helps the channel I'm watching
You can't remember if you watched something.. that's not good. Maybe you should take some of the memory and brain supplements, they work really good! Try them, it can't hurt you. Try.. have a good day 😊
@@BaBettesaWolfe considering that I have a preference to not wanting to repeat watching,reading or listening to something/someone twice, I do what I can to notate knowledge already gleaned. Everything else to me becomes a waste of my time. As for your concern about my health and memory, you are a saint, thank you. Hopefully I still have decades left before my brain melts away considering how much I need it for my work. Trigonometry and physics would suck so bad if I couldn’t function as a structural engineer
Yeah, in Germany we have a tasty bird, of which the peacocks reminded me. They even sound the same. Watching this made me hungry. What a stupid problem!
In my area of central Florida, there are NO Iguanas, but we do have plenty of those small lizards, and a few Black Racer snakes, but NO Peacocks... However, I see dozens of those Sand Hill Cranes everyday, oh ya, and there is a small Alligator in a small lake behind our house that has been there for 15 years, and the neighbors call him Waldo.
Peacocks (and peahens) are really great roasted like turkey! We cooked one with orange sauce (like with roast duck). It was the sweetest meat I've ever tasted! You can find pea foul on the menu in a few fancy restaurants but it's rare. We had our feast many years ago before overpopulation was a problem while visiting a relative's bird farm.
In Czechia, we are dealing with invasion of American Pond Sliders (Trachemys Scripta). These beautiful turtles used to be sold in pet shops all around the country, but some irresponsible people started releasing them into the wild. Turns out that these things love our climate and have a huge apetite. Our only native turtle species is going nearly extinct because of them.
We have peacocks at my work, but they're like, domesticated and kept there on purpose. They really help with the ticks, like a WHOLE ton, we don't have to worry about them or treat the lawn like other businesses have to do. They're older and really mellowed, even when a stupid kid chased one down under one of the buildings he didn't go after the kid at all other than making angry noises. Other people have been scratched pretty badly for getting them angry years ago though. Either way, don't chase peacocks because unless they're used to being around others, they can and will rip and scratch back at you with talons.
Florida Game and Fish should promote iguana tournaments that pay good and folks will get motivated. The more aggressive FWC gets the better to eradicate or keep numbers low.
They are invasive species running away native species. They can be pests. We only have a certain amount of resources to go around so the animals that don’t belong need to go.
They are Sweet Pets. Don't get whipped though. They know your nose. I trained one for Her target Practice Sessions. A great way to crack hard boiled eggs. The shells flew in all directions. (Just Kidding)
I live in Florida and we do get iguana rain a few days per year lol and peacocks are so beautiful I’m ok with them lol I thought cats were going to keep the population down. *** you forgot the new top contender for invasive species here in FL, CHICKENS 🐓 there are hundreds of them all over the place roaming free. I haven’t seen an iguana in 2 years, peacock 1 year but chickens??? Every day.
Feels like chickens are kind of in the same category as pigs. You can basically raise them in most parts of the world. I also hear that they are like the easiest animal to raise. You just have to feed and protect them, because they essentially take care of themselves.
On Guam we have chickens running around just about every where. Besides a few sparrows and pigeons, there are really no other birds on the island. I wish we had peacocks.
Captain Peacock...are you free? I'M FREE!! Running loose, pooping on cars, scratching the paint, squawking all hours of the day and night! FREE indeed!
I used to own an Iguana named Bob. Occasionally he would escape his cage and end up swimming in my neighbor's backyard pools..Kids always brought him home. He was a great pet.
Yep I thought great wildlife on my property. I’m trying to grow vegetables and fruit trees. They eat everything green including cactus and agave . So I’m not as happy about the bunny as I was. I don’t want to eat them. I ate too many as a kid in Wyoming
Several people have commented that iguanas make good eating. If people in Florida started to think of them as protein then maybe the population could be better controlled. I would suggest that is easier to say than do when many cities have problems with huge populations of mallards and Canada Geese and yet people don't go after them as more familiar sources of protein. On the other hand, we do have an example that could be followed. There was a time when lobster was not eaten In fact it was considered a poor person's food and made fun of if you were eating lobster. The diary of a local lighthouse keeper talks of walking into his small cove, collecting crabs and lobsters, bring them to shore and crushing them, without eating them, to spread over his root vegetable gardens to provide some basic fertilizer. At some point, someone started to market lobster, and it became an expensive food item. Took decades but now lobsters are so desired that there is much regulation governing their capture to maintain the market. Could Iguanas be the next lobsters?
@@maximcypher3109 Of course but my example was that if we can't get people thinking about eating species such as ducks and geese, which are "normal" food choices, but which also have large urban overpopulations, then it will be a harder sell to get people to eat iguanas.. I'd have added white-tailed deer too but there are some efforts to allow the culling of deer and the meat to go to foodbanks.
canada geese and mallards are native, but I agree that they could and maybe should be controlled in city areas. 2 big hurdles, first, hunting regulation prevent harvesting them in city limits. second, anti-hunting groups would be outraged. I hunt these birds and eat them. great in gumbo ! even with hunting, geese populations (especially snow geese) are on the rise. Another point of view. People in America of this day and age are not and have never been hungry, During the depression a lot of animals got eaten that normally are considered vermin. My grandmother told me stories of this when they had nothing. My great great uncles ate rats they caught in Europe during the WW II.
Wow,Most Interesting ❤ ! The iguanas look similar to the chameleon that changes its colour as caouflage against its enemy & the peacocks add beauty & entertainment ! ❤
There is one invasive species in Florida which absolutely swarmed the place, and brought the other invasive species with it. This creature walks on two legs before gets drunk, stoned, or plastered
Imagine a lizard with a 1m (3 foot) tail they can use as a whip (hurts like hell),they are great climbers/swimmers/runners and they can get pretty big. Cats and dogs do hunt them where I'm from tho.
@@staticbuilds7613 if there are predators then iguana's population wouldn't be so high. Plus their meat is good eating too. Most likely there are not enough predators to keep iguana population down.
@@chaikaomoua1169 Predators don't just eat every animal. Some predators only eat certain species. Not many are ominous predators like Humans. To keep species low you usually need natural predators evolves specifically for that species. "Their meat is good eating" Shows you lack of understanding on the topic of predation
Florida is like the worlds animal testing ground at this point, we might as well airdrop some jaguars in to deal with the iguana problem. i mean what could go wrong?
Floridian here.. as a kid, I never seen an iguana here in South Florida . Now, these things are everywhere. They're worse then pigeons. Eventually they will need to outlaw the ownership of any species that's not native to a particular ecosystem
My daughter is a volunteer firefighter and she was battling a fire in a house and she kept smelling fried chicken, it was stronger in one of the bedrooms. She happened to mention it to the homeowner as they were cleaning up and he shook his head and said, that was probably my iguana , it was in the room that caught fire ! So not only do they taste like chicken, they smell like chicken!
And let's not forget the cane toad courtesy of the sugar industry..the pigs were from sotos Entrada back in the day..fire ants from the exotic wood industry in the early 20th century 🐸🐗🐜 and the Formosa termite
Remember those animals first was " Lovely Pets" need a law that require identification of person . The second Iguanas are FOOD like Chicken, change the mind of food and are vegetarian. Iguana are lovely.
