Upscale Beach Town Of Boca Grande, FL Overrun With Iguanas - ENN

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. — Death and taxes may be life's only certainties, but for folks in this upscale island town, add iguanas. And another tax. In three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the black, spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows.

Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for every year-round resident.

The frustration here has led to frenzy. Bonnie McGee keeps a pellet gun by her door ready to take on the slithering enemy. "They eat your flowers and their feces is everywhere," she said, adding that she's killed dozens. "Some people toss them in the canal and the hermit crabs feed on them." Aaron Diaz, owner of Boca Grande's Barnichol hardware store, said he has sold 75 traps in the past three weeks alone. "For some people, they've really taken over, climbing into attics, into vents and even into their toilets," he said.

County Commissioner Bob Janes doesn't know how much eradication will cost yet, so he's not sure how much the tax will be. He said the issue has finally come to a head. "In 1988, there was talk of a program but people at that time thought they were kind of cute," Janes said. "They're no longer cute little guys. They're very pesky. They eat turtle and bird eggs and burrow into sand dunes. We could lose a lot of sand in a storm."

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