By: Sharon Aron Baron
Parkland Golf & Country Club’s large iguana problem is causing their management company to take drastic measures: they have hired a company to come in to shoot them.
Mary Banmiller, property manager with Campbell Property Management said in a letter to residents in the 800-home country club community that over the past six months, they have dealt with a huge influx of iguanas who are eating all the flowers.
The problem is, she wrote, is this is impacting the way the community looks and is affecting their budget because they’re having to replace them.
After speaking to other communities, they found they have been able to negate the problem by killing the iguanas with air rifles.
Banmiller wrote that she wanted to notify residents about this so they aren’t alarmed when they see men with air rifles shooting iguanas.
In the process, she said that the iguanas will be humanely disposed of.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), iguanas are not protected in Florida except by anti-animal cruelty laws so it is legal to shoot them on private property during daylight hours with the property owners’ permission — but everyone should check with their local law enforcement agency about local laws regarding firearms before discharging them.
“I am not familiar with how we can fight them,” said Parkland Golf & Country Club resident Elsa Rozenberg. “But I’m sure they did their due diligence to figure out what their best step is.”
Rozenberg, who has a child at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, said she doesn’t think it’s good to see men with air rifles shooting, but from her experience, residents have told her that iguanas are eating all the plants and mangos – and the problem has gotten worse in the past year.
“I spoke to two gardeners who said they couldn’t fight the iguana problem because it’s like a race as they keep continuing to eat [the plants].”
A real estate agent for Keller Williams, Rozenberg said she’s not sure what the best procedure is.
“You definitely don’t want to have a huge invasion and to keep letting it grow. However, I guess I feel if I had a beautiful mango tree ruined by iguanas, I’d be upset.”
Banmiller said the procedure they will be using is approved and is being utilized as one of the most effective ways to rid the community of iguanas.