No permit needed: Executive order issued by FWC regarding cold-stunned green iguanas

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is allowing people to remove live, cold-stunned iguanas from the wild without a permit and bring them to one of its designated offices.

FWC said you can bring any cold-stunned iguana that you find to any of the following office locations in the South and Southwest regions:

• FWC South Florida Regional Lab, 2796 Overseas Highway 119, Marathon, FL 33050
• FWC Office, 10052 NW 53rd St., Sunrise, FL 33351
• FWC Tequesta Field Lab, 19100 SE Federal Highway (US-1), Tequesta, FL 33469
• FWC Law Enforcement Office, 2423 Edwards Drive, Fort Myers, FL 33901
• FWC Southwest Regional Office, 3900 Drane Field Road, Lakeland, FL 33811.

Staff will collect any of the iguanas that are brought in on Sunday, Feb. 1, from 9 a.m. to noon, and Monday, Feb. 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Executive Order 26-03 calls for special regulations that allow members of the public to remove the invasive green iguanas from their property during the cold-weather event, without requiring a permit. FWC said they will be humanely killed or transferred to permittees for live animal sales.

According to FWC, green iguanas are prohibited and may not be possessed without a permit, including temporarily, such as during transport, outside of the dates within the executive order.

Some of the special regulations in the executive order include the following:

• People without a permit may only be in possession of live green iguanas for the purpose of transport to the FWC and under the regulations of the executive order.
• Removal of green iguanas may be done by property owners or by members of the public with landowner permission. The regulations also apply to any Commission-managed property in the South and Southwest regions.
• When collecting live, cold-stunned green iguanas for removal, members of the public should wear protective gloves, pants and long-sleeved shirts to protect themselves from potential scratches. The iguanas must be contained in a secure, escape-proof, cloth sack or bag. Only cloth sacks or bags may be used for primary containment to ensure breathability, and they must be securely closed shut. Once collected and prior to transport in your vehicle to an FWC office, the secured collection bags should be placed into a second secure, locked transport container labeled "Prohibited Reptiles." Collected iguanas should be transported to the FWC immediately to limit the likelihood of the iguanas regaining their ability to move freely.
• Once transport has begun, collection bags or sacks must remain closed or sealed until they are transferred to FWC staff. This is to both keep the iguanas from escaping into a new location and to prevent the iguanas from getting loose in your vehicle if they start to recover from torpor.
  

For more information on green iguanas, click here to visit FWC's website.

DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.