Beware! The Cunning Carnivore has Entered Florida
Sanibel, Fla.(United States):
Wildlife biologist Kendra Willett searched the teeming waters of Tarpon Bay by boat, catching quick glimpses of a stingray, a manatee, a diving osprey and a leaping dolphin.
But it was the creature she couldn't find that worried Willett and other officials and residents on this posh island retreat with a 6,400-acre national wildlife refuge.
The Nile monitor lizard, a cunning carnivore of voracious appetite that has already put fear in the hearts of many in nearby Cape Coral, Fla., has made its
way across San Carlos Bay to Sanibel, a 17-square-mile island on Florida's southwestern coast.
"We have more than 1,300 waterfowl nests on some of our satellite island rookeries, and we already have reports of Nile monitor lizards on Pine Island and Sanibel," Willett said as she looked for signs of the invader last month. "If these big lizards establish a breeding population and discover the rookeries as a food source, the birds may abandon them."
This is not a gecko-sized problem. And herons, terns and cormorants aren't the only species endangered. Nile monitor lizards are large, nonnative predators capable of wreaking havoc on indigenous wildlife -- and people, too.
"I got a shovel and chased one that hissed at me in my yard. When it ran past the neighbor's house, it saw his reflection in a window and lunged into it so hard I thought it would break," said Steve Sebesta of Cape Coral, where nearly 1,000 Nile monitor lizards are thought to be prowling despite a 2-year-old eradication program.
After reported sightings of the lizards on Pine Island, which lies between Cape Coral and Sanibel, wildlife experts went on the alert. When a Sanibel resident photographed a Nile monitor in her backyard, city officials put out a warning to the island's more than 6,000 residents.
Sanibel police Chief Bill Tomlinson said traps were being set in the area where the Nile monitor was photographed.
A news release issued by Sanibel City Manager Judie Zimomra warned residents that the lizards pose "an imminent threat."
"Removal of this dangerous exotic lizard is a priority to the sustainability of our island's environmental health, and we are treating it as such," Zimomra said.
At risk are the island's snails, clams, crabs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including domestic pets. They also might pose a threat to human babies, the city manager said.
The presence of the menacing monitors is particularly sensitive on Sanibel. The island has had a series of alligator attacks on humans in recent years. Officials killed eight large alligators and put a more aggressive removal program in place after two local residents died and two others were injured.
The Nile lizards are not as big as alligators but can grow to lengths of 7 feet. Though they will normally flee humans, they can become aggressive when cornered. Cape Coral residents have encountered Nile monitors raised up on their rear legs, slashing out with their curved claws and whipping at them with powerful tails.
This lizard's arsenal also includes a powerful bite and a pungent "squiddy smell" they emit when threatened, according to biologists.
Harry Phillips, an environmental technician who has helped trap 110 lizards in Cape Coral, said that the local Nile monitors also have exhibited disturbing Jurassic Park-raptor hunting techniques.
"They've been known to work together to distract a bird while one goes up and gets the eggs out of the nest," he said.
These long-necked, forked-tongue natives of Africa's Nile River basin have been imported and bred as exotic pets in the United States.
Biologists speculate that pet traders or owners in the Cape Coral area released breeding pairs in the city's southwestern neighborhoods where hundreds of miles of canals, vacant lots and mangrove swamps have provided them a haven.
"I am not being an alarmist but these things get really large," said Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa biologist. "They are really intelligent. They can find bird rookeries. And they can remember from year to year where to go back."
The lizards reproduce at a high rate, laying as many as 84 eggs at a time. They can swim long distances and are fleet of foot, having been clocked as fast as 18 mph.
"I encountered a 5-footer and it was literally leaving us in the dust as it ran down a levee," said Bill Thomas Jr., head of the Invasive Species Strike Team for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "One of my workers ran as fast as he could after it, and he was not making up any ground. It was like a top-fuel dragster against a stock muscle car."
The Nile monitor lizards pose a considerable threat to Cape Coral's prized population of burrowing owls. Some suspect that they are also responsible for a sharp decline in the number of stray cats in the area.
Two years ago, officials in Cape Coral launched an eradication program to eliminate the lizards that "will eat anything that moves or smells good -- or even that smells bad," according to Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa biologist who has led the city's campaign.
Campbell said his worst fear has been that the lizards, which can stay submerged for an hour or more, would migrate from Cape Coral's residential areas to Sanibel's J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses forests, marshes, and coastal islands within Pine Island Sound.
Oct 09, 2005
Wes Smith, The Orlando Sentinel Austin American-Statesman , TX
Sanibel, Fla.(United States):Wildlife biologist Kendra Willett searched the teeming waters of Tarpon Bay by boat, catching quick glimpses of a stingray, a manatee, a diving osprey and a leaping dolphin.
But it was the creature she couldn't find that worried Willett and other officials and residents on this posh island retreat with a 6,400-acre national wildlife refuge.
The Nile monitor lizard, a cunning carnivore of voracious appetite that has already put fear in the hearts of many in nearby Cape Coral, Fla., has made its
way across San Carlos Bay to Sanibel, a 17-square-mile island on Florida's southwestern coast."We have more than 1,300 waterfowl nests on some of our satellite island rookeries, and we already have reports of Nile monitor lizards on Pine Island and Sanibel," Willett said as she looked for signs of the invader last month. "If these big lizards establish a breeding population and discover the rookeries as a food source, the birds may abandon them."
This is not a gecko-sized problem. And herons, terns and cormorants aren't the only species endangered. Nile monitor lizards are large, nonnative predators capable of wreaking havoc on indigenous wildlife -- and people, too.
"I got a shovel and chased one that hissed at me in my yard. When it ran past the neighbor's house, it saw his reflection in a window and lunged into it so hard I thought it would break," said Steve Sebesta of Cape Coral, where nearly 1,000 Nile monitor lizards are thought to be prowling despite a 2-year-old eradication program.
After reported sightings of the lizards on Pine Island, which lies between Cape Coral and Sanibel, wildlife experts went on the alert. When a Sanibel resident photographed a Nile monitor in her backyard, city officials put out a warning to the island's more than 6,000 residents.
Sanibel police Chief Bill Tomlinson said traps were being set in the area where the Nile monitor was photographed.
A news release issued by Sanibel City Manager Judie Zimomra warned residents that the lizards pose "an imminent threat."
"Removal of this dangerous exotic lizard is a priority to the sustainability of our island's environmental health, and we are treating it as such," Zimomra said.
At risk are the island's snails, clams, crabs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including domestic pets. They also might pose a threat to human babies, the city manager said.
The presence of the menacing monitors is particularly sensitive on Sanibel. The island has had a series of alligator attacks on humans in recent years. Officials killed eight large alligators and put a more aggressive removal program in place after two local residents died and two others were injured.
The Nile lizards are not as big as alligators but can grow to lengths of 7 feet. Though they will normally flee humans, they can become aggressive when cornered. Cape Coral residents have encountered Nile monitors raised up on their rear legs, slashing out with their curved claws and whipping at them with powerful tails.
This lizard's arsenal also includes a powerful bite and a pungent "squiddy smell" they emit when threatened, according to biologists.
Harry Phillips, an environmental technician who has helped trap 110 lizards in Cape Coral, said that the local Nile monitors also have exhibited disturbing Jurassic Park-raptor hunting techniques.
"They've been known to work together to distract a bird while one goes up and gets the eggs out of the nest," he said.
These long-necked, forked-tongue natives of Africa's Nile River basin have been imported and bred as exotic pets in the United States.
Biologists speculate that pet traders or owners in the Cape Coral area released breeding pairs in the city's southwestern neighborhoods where hundreds of miles of canals, vacant lots and mangrove swamps have provided them a haven.
"I am not being an alarmist but these things get really large," said Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa biologist. "They are really intelligent. They can find bird rookeries. And they can remember from year to year where to go back."
The lizards reproduce at a high rate, laying as many as 84 eggs at a time. They can swim long distances and are fleet of foot, having been clocked as fast as 18 mph.
"I encountered a 5-footer and it was literally leaving us in the dust as it ran down a levee," said Bill Thomas Jr., head of the Invasive Species Strike Team for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "One of my workers ran as fast as he could after it, and he was not making up any ground. It was like a top-fuel dragster against a stock muscle car."
The Nile monitor lizards pose a considerable threat to Cape Coral's prized population of burrowing owls. Some suspect that they are also responsible for a sharp decline in the number of stray cats in the area.
Two years ago, officials in Cape Coral launched an eradication program to eliminate the lizards that "will eat anything that moves or smells good -- or even that smells bad," according to Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa biologist who has led the city's campaign.
Campbell said his worst fear has been that the lizards, which can stay submerged for an hour or more, would migrate from Cape Coral's residential areas to Sanibel's J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses forests, marshes, and coastal islands within Pine Island Sound.
Oct 09, 2005
Wes Smith, The Orlando Sentinel Austin American-Statesman , TX
