Answers sought after deaths of iguanas found with legs bound across MS Coast, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish authorities in Louisiana are asking for the public’s help after several iguanas were found abandoned with their legs bound in various locations over the past month.
Michelle Brignac, director of Jefferson Protection and Animal Welfare Service, said the agency has found three iguanas on the side of the road with their front legs restrained with tape and zip ties.
Gulf Coast Reptile Refuge and Tortoise Sanctuary, an animal rescue sanctuary and rehabilitation center based in Picayune, took in another iguana in March that was found with its back legs wrapped and bound to its tail on a busy road in Saucier said Krystale Probst, executive director. That iguana is on the road to recovery, Probst said.
“It is concerning that so many in such a short amount of time have been in such a precarious situation and abandoned,” Brignac said. “We’re just trying to find some answers — why is this becoming a more common occurrence in the last few months? “
Around April 15, two iguanas were found separately on the side of the road in a residential area in Kenner, one with their front legs bound with tape, the other with zip ties, Brignac said.
One was taken to a reptile sanctuary, where it is expected to make a full recovery, but the other died.
A third iguana was found on May 2, Brignac said, this time on Giuffrais Avenue in Metairie. It died shortly after it was found, likely from lack of food and water, she said.
Brignac characterized the incidents as an “open investigation” and said none of the leads the agency have gathered so far have panned out.
Over the years, JPAWS has rescued a handful of iguanas that have been most likely pets abandoned after they grew too large or became too expensive. The most recent was recued from Lafreniere Park.
Though iguanas are not as prevalent in Louisiana as they are in places like South Florida, where the population has exploded over the past decade after many were released into the wild, they are still non-native species and could impact local ecosystem.
Some cultures treat iguana as a delicacy. In some Caribbean countries, the reptiles are referred to as “chicken of the trees,” according to the Associated Press.
Micha Petty, a Louisiana Master Naturalist and author of “A Primer on Reptiles & Amphibians: A Collection of Educational Nature Bulletins” who heads the Louisiana Exotic Animal Rescue Network, said the organization gets calls about rehoming iguanas monthly, but only takes in about ten strays a year.
Petty said he didn’t know what led to the iguanas being restrained, but guessed that a person could have been trying to eliminate non-native species from the environment in a humane manner, or captured it and planned to pick it up and eat it later in the day. He noted that iguanas are sometimes sold live and restrained in a similar manner.
“Of course, the motive could also be run-of-the-mill sadism,” he said.
Petty said he was concerned for the individual iguanas involved, as well as implications for the greater native ecosystem.
“This certainly highlights the need for greater education regarding the release of animals in any circumstance other than well planned efforts by trained individuals, such as biologists doing repatriation of threatened species,” he said.
