Large Exotic Lizards Showing Up In South Florida
WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) - First there were pythons in the Everglades, then the dreaded lionfish in Keys, now a new exotic species released into the wild has caused concern for wildlife officials in Palm Beach County.
The Nile monitor is a large ill-tempered African lizard which has powerful jaws, razor sharp claws and can grow up to seven feet in length.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set traps along the C-51 canal along Southern Boulevard where less than a dozen have been spotted, according to the Sun-Sentinel. They said the monitors were most likely pets released by their owners who no longer wanted them or could no longer take care of them.
"We're trying to determine if we have a breeding problem," the FWC's Gabriella Ferrero told the paper.
The monitors, which have been called "the largest, most dangerous non-indigenous lizard in the United States" by the U.S. Geological Survey, pose a threat to native wading birds and smaller animals.
"They're opportunistic," Ferrero said. "They eat anything, plants, animals, whatever comes across their radar."
The FWC plans to gather as much information as they can on the lizards movements, size and what they are eating before they decide whether to eradicate them or merely suppress their numbers. They want to avoid what's going on in Cape Coral on the west coast where officials are trying to deal with more than a thousand of the free roaming lizards.
Source: The Sun-Sentinel
