Florida invasive species fighters are on the trail of tegu lizards in Collier ... - Naples Daily News
In this file photo, a young,exotic, tegu lizard is held by Jake Edwards, a wildlife technician for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Florida, Wednesday, September 4, 2013. The non-native lizards are being found in large numbers... He was sure he recognized it for what it was: an invasive lizard species that has become Florida’s newest nonnative threat. Bozzo pulled over, jumped out of the driver’s seat of the Ford F250 crew cab and dove into the backseat to dig his camera out of his backpack. The pictures he snapped of the Argentine black and white tegu lizard crossing Shady Hollow Boulevard back in March have become Exhibit No. 1 in an all-out effort to stop the invasive species’ spread in Collier County before it can start. Before Bozzo got his photos, the only two known breeding populations of tegu lizards in Florida were in Hillsborough and in Miami-Dade counties, where hundreds of them are pulled out of the wild each year. Postcards are popping up in some 7,200 mailboxes in rural Collier County this week to alert neighbors about tegus in their backyards and to encourage people to report sightings to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the... “It feels like we have a tide coming,” said Conservancy of Southwest Florida wildlife biologist. Source: www.naplesnews.com
