Best way to kill an iguana? Bash its head in, UF researchers say

FLORIDA — Researchers at the University of Florida are smashing in the skulls of iguanas...in the name of science of course.

The non-native,  invasive species has been growing in population in the state of Florida, so now a three-month research project being conducted at the university (funded by a $63,000 grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) aims to find out the best way to humanely kill the animals while staying within the state’s animal cruelty laws.

What they’ve come up with is this: a tool called a captive bolt gun, commonly used in the cattle industry. It stuns the iguanas with a shock to the brain often followed by swinging the lizards into concrete or hitting them in the head with a hammer.

Blunt force trauma seems to be the method of choice, according to wildlife ecology professor Frank Mazzotti.

"Death is instantaneous, as is destruction of the brain," he tells the Washington Post. "No pain is felt by the animal."

The teams operate along a canal near the Everglades preserve in Davie where iguanas tend to colonize. They set up traps and often take the iguanas right off the trees while they are sleeping.  So far, they’ve killed about 300 of the lizards.

According to the Sun Sentinel, iguanas first appeared in Miami-Dade County in 1966, arriving as pets and have grown wildly in population since. Their natural habitat stretches from Mexico through Central America and the Amazon in South America, but they are attracted to trees and fruit--which Florida has plenty of.

Some frustrated homeowners have taken matters into their own hands by shooting the iguanas with pellet guns, but Mazzotti doesn’t approve of that method.

“That’s not humane,” Mazzotti said because the pellets often get lodged in the lizards skin, causing them to suffer a painful death.