A task force has been set up to control a surge in the population of green iguanas in southern Taiwan, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that the lizards would be added to an agricultural disaster reporting system to facilitate hunting.
Following the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s announcement last month that certified people could hunt green iguanas, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) at an internal meeting yesterday approved the establishment of the interagency task force and delineated its division of labor.
Experience with eradicating African swine fever and the African sacred ibis would be consulted to integrate the ministry’s resources and curb the increase of the iguana population, estimated at 200,000 in Taiwan, the ministry said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Green iguanas not only cause agricultural losses by feeding on crops, but also pose a risk to public safety by digging holes in embankments, it said.
The task force would initiate the collaboration between reporting, monitoring and capturing groups, which are run by government agencies and units, Chen said.
The reporting group comprises the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, the Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, the Irrigation Agency, the Fisheries Agency, and agricultural research and extension stations, he said.
During regular patrols of farms and canals, and while providing services for agriculture and fishery workers, the agencies can photograph iguanas and upload their findings to the reporting system to help clarify the geographic distribution of the animals, he said.
The monitoring group consists of the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute, and the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Chen said.
With the Taiwan Roadkill Observation Network — a citizen project run by the biodiversity institute — and the reptile survey system integrated into the report system, the locations of green iguanas could be compiled and analyzed based on on-site monitoring data from ecological survey researchers to add to the understanding of the green iguana population, the ministry said.
The capturing group comprises the forestry and nature agency, and local governments that capture the lizards, it said, adding that those entities would form multiple teams to help curb population growth.
The forestry and nature agency would guide local governments by providing green iguana removal training courses to certify more people to join the effort, it said.
The green iguana has been added to the reporting system, which has been used previously for natural disasters and a battle against fall armyworms, Chen said.
For the green iguana, two sections are displayed on the system: reporting and capturing, he said.
The reporting section is for fishery and agriculture workers to report traces of green iguanas in their communities, while the capturing section is for professionals and certified people to upload information about captures of the animals, he said.
The division of labor is expected to help control the growth of wild green iguanas in a short time, reducing the damage to crops, he added.
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