MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Sid Pennington has determined to spend his retirement trapping invasive lizards threatening native wildlife in his neighborhood.
Pennington, 60, has singlehandedly captured at the very least 117 Argentine black and white tegus from the woods and neighborhoods in western Fort Pierce the place he lives.
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In September, after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission noticed how expert Pennington was at catching nonnative tegus on his personal, biologists lent him 20 traps and recruited him as a volunteer. He’s caught 31 this 12 months alone.
“I grew up being a big reptile guy,” mentioned Pennington, a former worker on the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. His first catch was a feminine tegu in 2019, measuring just below 4 toes lengthy. “I don’t want them to be here. But it is fun.”
Tegu populations spreading in Florida
With sharp enamel and scaly black-and-white splotches, tegus could also be spreading sooner than biologists can lure them. The state has no definitive inhabitants estimate, however residents have reported at the very least 132 sightings in St. Lucie County by means of 2021. Sixty % of these sightings got here from Pennington.
The South American lizard’s urge for food for the eggs of native animals — equivalent to killdeer, alligators and gopher tortoises — and its skill to flourish in cooler environments has prompted a robust response from FWC. If tegus begin spreading north, it may wreak havoc on native species already straining from habitat loss and overdevelopment.
This St. Lucie County inhabitants seemingly originated from escapes or releases stemming from the unique pet commerce, in keeping with FWC nonnative biologist Dan Quinn. The species is now efficiently breeding in three different Florida counties: Charlotte, Hillsborough and Miami-Dade.
Over 12,000 tegus statewide have been faraway from the wild thus far.
“They’re starting to make a foothold here,” Quinn mentioned of Fort Pierce throughout a news convention off Rock Road Wednesday. “Since 2016, when the first tegu was reported, we’ve seen an uptick in reports. We think it’s possible the population is increasing in this area.”
Most sightings have been recorded west of Florida’s Turnpike, with a majority of the experiences south of Orange Avenue and north of Okeechobee Road, in keeping with the FWC. Sightings have been verified over three miles aside.
There’s additionally been periodic sightings of particular person animals in Martin and Indian River counties, that are seemingly launched pets and never a part of a longtime inhabitants, Quinn mentioned.
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There’s sturdy proof tegus are affecting native species throughout Florida. A lizard caught in Charlotte County had gopher tortoise eggs in its abdomen. University of Florida researchers in 2014 documented a tegu consuming alligator eggs.
In April 2021, the FWC deemed tegus a “high risk” species, and banned proudly owning or breeding them. The remaining tegus in captivity can reside out the remainder of their life, however any future gross sales are prohibited.
Tegus are lured to traps by rooster eggs and are then humanely killed, Quinn mentioned.
“The vast majority of sightings (in St. Lucie County) have happened in the last two years,” Quinn mentioned.
FWC seeks assist from public
When it involves eradicating invasive species, state wildlife biologists have their palms full. The FWC has eliminated hundreds of Burmese pythons from the Everglades, overseen a multiyear statewide effort to kill lionfish from Florida waters and actively encourages iguana elimination.
Tegus at the moment are the newest animal on the checklist of problematic species, and the state has spent roughly $1.3 million since 2016 to cut back the inhabitants, in keeping with FWC spokesperson Lisa Thompson. A feminine tegu can lay roughly 35 eggs yearly.
As temperatures enhance with local weather change, cold-blooded invasive species will unfold wider and sooner. A inhabitants of tegus, as an illustration, has already been recorded in Georgia.
This previous week, FWC outreach groups despatched 3,800 mailers to St. Lucie County houses close to the place tegu sightings had been documented and positioned 5 informational indicators alongside busy roadways. They’ve additionally visited tons of of homes within the space, distributing brochures that learn: “How you can help stop the spread of an invasive lizard.”
The purpose is to tell the general public and encourage documenting verified experiences, Quinn mentioned.
“We suspect more people are seeing them and not reporting them,” he mentioned.
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