More than 26,000 green iguanas were captured in Tainan last year, with more than 300 being caught on some days, the city’s Agriculture Bureau said.
Last year’s haul of the invasive species was more than double the number culled in 2024, bureau data showed.
Tainan City Councilor Tseng Pei-ya (曾培雅) said she received reports from residents about green iguanas in Barclay Memorial Park in East District (東區).
Photo courtesy of Hsieh Chi-liang
Although green iguanas, native to Central and South America, typically do not attack humans, they damage crops and upset the local ecology. Their importation was banned in 2015 and they were declared an invasive species in 2020.
Tseng said that she asked the agriculture bureau to help remove them from the park.
Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) on Sunday said that the division immediately sent personnel to capture the iguanas upon receiving the report, but the lizards had gone into hiding due to cold weather.
A total of 26,820 green iguanas were removed from the city last year, an increase of about 14,000 from 2024, Chu said, adding that among the city’s 37 districts, the highest densities of green iguanas were in the South (南區) and Rende (仁德) districts, where more than half were captured.
Their population is most dense around South District’s Nanshan Public Cemetery and its surrounding green spaces, he added.
As the cemetery is fairly close to the city center, contracted iguana-capturing teams worked intensively to cull the lizards, often deploying seven to eight people each day, conducting patrols in the morning and carrying out capture operations at night, Chu said.
Sometimes, they can catch up to 200 to 300 iguanas in a single day, and now their population is considered under control, he said.
The city’s capture plans prioritize the iguanas that affect agriculture or public safety, particularly along riverbanks and in parks and green spaces, he said.
Riverbanks are usually less developed, making them ideal breeding grounds for iguanas, he added.
Meanwhile, regarding complaints that the city has not dealt with an unusually large “yellow” iguana seen near Airport Road in South District, Chu said the bureau deployed personnel to capture the iguana, but due to safety concerns, put off the operation.
Sexually mature male green iguanas can develop yellow or orange coloration, he said.
The iguana was found near the Tainan Airport where civilian and military aircraft frequently takeoff and land, making it dangerous to use firearms to kill the lizard, and ropes were ruled out due to the forest environment, he said.
The hunters were worried a stray bullet could hit a plane, so due to safety concerns, the bureau would temporarily monitor the iguana, and wait for a better opportunity to remove it, he added.
People can report iguana sightings to the city’s hotlines at (09) 8910-0919 or (09) 1235-4463.
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