'They could wake up': Concerns raised over Florida iguana drop-off order

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — People finished dropping off green iguanas at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offices on Monday afternoon, following an executive order that allowed them to transport the animals without a permit.

While the initiative was an effort to control the invasive species, a pest control service provider Fox 4 spoke with said it raised some concerns for him.

The owner of The Wildlife Whisperer, Ned Bruha, received a video from a client in November showing an iguana moving around in their car. He got a call from them after they tried to move a frozen iguana, but it woke up.

"If you start yanking on an iguana that's in your vehicle that's come alive and it's under the dash, you're going to do a lot of electrical damage to that vehicle," Bruha said.

Due to the cold snap, an executive order was in place on Sunday and Monday, allowing the temporary transport of iguanas without permits.

During a Fox and Friends interview on Monday morning, FWC executive director Colonel Roger Young said, "It's the first time we've ever done this for the iguana executive order. We figured we'd take advantage of this cold weather to try to help the landscape of Florida."

To drop off animals at FWC, people were supposed to transport them to FWC facilities in a secure, breathable cloth sack or bag.

"Throw them in that cloth bag, take them directly to our facilities. Like we said, we've already taken in over 2,000, and that's 2,000 invasive species that we've gotten off the landscape in South Florida," Young said.

But Bruha said he was concerned those rules weren't being followed.

"People aren't going to do that," Bruha said. "They're just going to be driving them to the site and hope to goodness they don't wake up on the way."

FWC said the two-day program was intended to control non-native species. Bruha said he understands that something needs to be done about iguanas in Florida.

"They are invasive animals. They don't belong here," Bruha said.

However, he would have preferred it to happen differently.

"It's sad to see big piles of bodies going to waste and not being donated to some place where they can be processed for people to eat who are in need," Bruha said.

With the executive order ending Monday, iguana hunters need to have a permit.

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