PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – If you live near fresh water in South Florida, chances are green iguanas aren’t far behind.
“It’s a nuisance it drives my wife crazy, but it is what it is,” said Palm Beach County resident Matthew Majors.
Majors lives in the colony near Boca Del Mar and says year-round the scaly critters are everywhere.
“They’re in my front yard in my bushes and in my trees,” he said.
Where many see a problem, Pierce Kennamer saw an opportunity and officially started his company Iggy Trap in January.
“Our traps catch anywhere from 1-25 iguanas at a time. We were with FWC in Tallahassee last week on Wednesday, they said they haven’t seen a multi-catch trap work this effectively to catch this many iguanas at once,” said Kennamer.
Kennamer’s traps are patented multi-catch cages that are designed to hold the iguanas until they can be humanely euthanized with a captive bolt.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, green iguanas can be humanely killed on private property with landowner permission year-round.
Residents are already too familiar with why they’ve become a nuisance.
“There’s lots of iguanas and there’s lots of poop,” said Majors.
Both Kennamer and the FWC say the iguanas waste is more dangerous than you’d think.
“Their poop actually carries salmonella so if you’re talking about pools, they have salmonella. If they’re in your backyard that’s something that can get your dog really sick,” said Kennamer.
Many reasons to make trapping make sense.