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In an apparent effort to kill as many green iguanas as possible, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) temporarily deputized all 23 million Floridians as lizard round-up officers. While it’s technically always open season on the invasive species, allowing residents to collect and humanely kill them on certain public lands in South Florida, FWC, for the first time, opened frozen iguana drop-off sites to potentially facilitate the killing of thousands.
FWC officials made the announcement over the weekend, when temperatures dropped into the mid-30s, well below the 50-degree mark at which the cold-blooded reptiles enter a state of paralysis. They opened five drop-off sites throughout South, Central, and Southwest Florida, where residents dropped off more than 2,000 iguanas for their death sentence before the Monday afternoon deadline, according to Axios.
In an FWC-issued executive order on Saturday, officials allowed any resident to collect and drop off cold-stunned iguanas.
“The special regulations under Executive Order 26-03 provide a unique opportunity for members of the public to remove green iguanas from their property during this unusual cold-weather event and bring them to the FWC, no permit required, to be humanely killed or, in some cases, transferred to permittees for live animal sales,” a press release announcing the order reads.
“Green iguanas are a prohibited species in Florida, and other than during the dates listed within [the executive order], may not be possessed without a permit — including temporarily, such as during transport. EO 26-03 allows people without a permit to be in temporary possession of prohibited green iguanas so they may collect and transport cold-stunned iguanas to the FWC.”
On Monday, an FWC spokeswoman told New Times they’d have official data on how many iguanas were collected by Tuesday. FWC has yet to provide that data, and hasn’t answered New Times’ questions about how many iguanas were killed versus how many were sent to pet sellers. It was also unclear how FWC decided which iguanas went to the gallows and which were to be sold (maybe as food because Florida banned new ownership in 2021).
South Florida may not consider itself culturally Southern by U.S. standards, but scores of residents appeared to brave the bitter cold just to round up the reptiles for summary execution — much like countless deer hunters do in the Southeastern U.S. every winter. Several South Florida residents even took to social media to show off their scores.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, spotted a pile of frozen iguanas in a South Florida park on Sunday, writing, “FWC is rounding up frozen iguanas during this stretch of cold temperatures. The chill can immobilize the reptiles and cause them to drop from trees. This pile was seen this morning at Sand Pine Park in Boca Raton!”
Another wrote, “Wild scenes in South Florida … PILES of cold-stunned iguanas on the ground after falling from trees. When temperatures drop into the low 40s, iguanas can become immobilized. Prolonged time in the 30s increases the risk of death for these cold-blooded cuties.”
A travel account also marveled at the phenomenon. “This is wild … PILES of iguanas paralyzed from the cold snap in South Florida, where it reached the low 30s! Groups are out humanely euthanizing them since they are invasive and harmful to the environment,” he wrote.
One Reddit user let a photo tell the story. “My father sent me this today,” they wrote alongside an image of what appears to be at least a dozen caged green lizards inside the trunk of an SUV.
The green iguana is considered among Florida’s most destructive invasive species. The reptiles are known to eat indigenous animals and undermine infrastructure through burrowing.
