FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As South Florida prepares to see some of the coldest weather since 2010, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is allowing the removal and transport of cold-stunned iguanas without a permit.
The agency signed an executive order Friday, because of the coming intense cold front, that establishes temporary regulations that allow people to take any live but immobile wild lizards from their property, or from another landowner with a permit, and drop them off at five FWC sites on Sunday and Monday during set hours.
Temperatures near freezing or below cause iguanas to enter a “torpor state,” FWC says, where they may appear “frozen” and fall from trees. They may recover their movement faster than expected and become defensive.
Iguanas can be collected “using legal and humane methods,” the order says, and must be taken to one of the five FWC locations within 24 hours of their capture and no later than 4 pm Monday.
Collected iguanas must be kept only in sacks or bags of breathable fabric “that are sealed closed during the duration of collection activities in the field” and that are “escape proof,” according to the order. Traps cannot be used on any properties managed by FWC.
The lizards will be humanely killed or transferred to persons with a permit for the sale of live animals, FWC said in a news release Friday.
Staff will collect iguanas at the following sites in and around South Florida on Sunday from 9 am to 12 pm and Monday from 8 am to 4 pm:
—FWC Office, 10052 NW 53rd St., Sunrise, FL 33351
—FWC Tequesta Field Lab, 19100 SE Federal Highway (US 1), Tequesta, FL 33469
—FWC South Florida Regional Lab, 2796 Overseas Highway 119, Marathon, FL 3305
The other two sites are in Fort Myers and Lakeland.
Anyone planning to catch invasive species should wear protective gloves, pants and long sleeves to protect against scratches. During their transport to an FWC office, the bags must be secured in another locked container labeled “reptile prohibited,” FWC says, and taken immediately to the site.
Floridians can humanely kill invasive green iguanas year-round on their property, but the order allows their possession without a permit, which is required at any other time to possess or transport the prohibited species.
An intense arctic cold front will move through South Florida beginning Saturday morning and move into the Florida Straits by Saturday night. Temperatures will drop rapidly in the region Saturday night into early Sunday, with temperatures in the mid-upper 20s west of Lake Okeechobee and between 30 and 33 degrees over the rest of the inland areas, according to the National Weather Service forecast in Miami. An extreme cold warning is in effect for Palm Beach County.
While the odds are “extremely low,” a few models indicate there could be the potential for “a few flurries” west of Lake Okeechobee and parts of southwest Florida’s coast, NWS Miami forecasters say.
The metro and coastal areas of Broward and Miami-Dade counties will see temperatures in the mid to upper 30s late Saturday night, and there is a 30% to 50% chance of freezing temperatures in metro parts of both counties, NWS Miami says. A cold weather advisory is in effect.