Paradise Palms, my botanical garden in Delray Beach, must be home to a thousand iguanas. They are not particularly good-looking creatures. Some can be downright weird. And big. They can grow to four feet.
But they pose no immediate danger to small dogs and toddlers, as the alligators do. We hunt and kill the alligators, but since iguanas are herbivores, we let them do their thing.
Iguanas are one of many invasive species that are multiplying exponentially here in my home state of Florida. We also have exploding populations of pythons, cane toads, lionfish, and giant African land snails – to name just a few!
Should we, as suggested by a recent article in National Geographic, fight back in what it calls “an extremely Florida war”? Or should we shrug it off? (As JS says, “Hey! If you live in a jungle, you have to expect this sort of thing!”)