Arya News - Thousands of iguanas had been frozen solid by cold temperatures in Florida and started dropping from trees across the state.
Thousands of iguanas had been frozen solid by cold temperatures in Florida and started dropping from trees across the state.
Florida is experiencing record-low temperatures, with the mercury touching -4C in Orlando, the lowest recorded in February since at least 1923. Typically at this time of year, the temperature ranges between daily lows of 12C and highs of 23C.
As such, Florida’s WPLG 10 TV network, based in Miami, reported that it was “raining iguanas”, as the cold-blooded reptiles fell from trees when the temperature got too low.
Pictures and videos showed the motionless creatures lying on pavements after falling from trees in southern parts of the state.
Blake Wilkins and Andrew Baron, who are iguana removal trappers, unload cold-stunned, as well as dead green iguanas, from the back of a pickup truck in Hollywood, Florida - Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Mr Wilkins said they had collected about 2500 iguanas, and he had never seen anything like it in his years of trapping. - Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Locals have been encouraged to collect the reptiles and take them to collection sites so that the invasive species can be humanely euthanised or transferred to licensed permit holders for sale outside the state.
The state’s wildlife agency said it collected more than 2,000 cold-stunned green iguanas after announcing a two-day removal event during Florida’s ongoing cold snap.
The latest bout of extreme weather comes a week after a major storm hit a wide swathe of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities struggling to dig themselves out from snow and ice.
Jessica Kilgore, who runs a service called Iguana Solutions that removes invasive species, told WPLG 10 she had collected hundreds of the lizards, both alive and dead, during the cold snap.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission receive frozen iguanas that have been rescued
Florida ’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued an executive order allowing people to transport iguanas – which run wild in the state but can’t be owned without a permit – to commission offices.
During a Fox and Friends interview on Monday morning, Col Roger Young, the FWC executive director, 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.”
One social media user thanked Governor Ron DeSantis for “making iguana stacking a fun new frozen Floridian family tradition”.
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