Kaohsiung has culled 238 green iguanas so far this year, under a program that it began in 2013 to maintain an ecological balance, a city official said yesterday.
In 2013, it was found that the city’s Niaosong District (鳥松) was a major habitat for wild green iguanas, the official said, citing a field study done by National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
The Kaohsiung Bureau of Agriculture later that year commissioned the university to cull the non-native reptiles to help avert ecological and environmental problems, the official said.
The iguana population in Kaohsiung has grown as a result of owners of pet iguanas abandoning or releasing the reptiles into the wild, the official said.
In the period between June and December 2013, 107 green iguanas were captured in Kaohsiung, the official said.
Since then, the official said, the numbers have dropped significantly as 74 were culled last year and 238 have been captured so far this year.
The official said the reptiles have been found not just in Niaosong, but also in the city’s Cianjhen (前鎮), Siaogang (小港), Sanmin (三民) and Zihguan (梓官) districts.
Green iguanas tend to eat mostly crickets and animal eggs when they are young.
Healthy adult iguanas can measure up to 1.5m in length and might damage and destroy plants, shrubs, trees and flowers, including orchids, the official said.
If the reptiles reproduce in large numbers, they can also pose a threat to Taiwan’s indigenous species, the official added.
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