Florida Asks Iguana Hunters to Chill a Little

At the start of July, the media picked up on a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission advisory that explained it "encourages removal of green iguanas from private properties by landowners"—and it's legal to kill them without a permit. Roughly three weeks later, the commission found itself needing to provide "additional information." In a new statement, FWC Commissioner Rodney Barreto says that "unfortunately, the message has been conveyed that we are asking the public to just go out there and shoot them up. This is not what we are about; this is not the 'wild west.'"

He continued, "If you are not capable of safely removing iguanas from your property, please seek assistance from professionals who do this for a living." But a professional apparently recently had some trouble, too. In late June WPTV reported a pool maintenance worker was shot with a pellet gun by a hired iguana hunter in Boca Raton. "I heard him scream at the top of his lungs and he had blood coming out of his leg," said the homeowner. (More iguana stories.)