A rare blast of Arctic air has turned parts of Florida into an unlikely scene: sidewalks and backyards littered with motionless green iguanas that look dead but are very much alive. The deep freeze has not only stunned the invasive lizards, it has also triggered an emergency rule that lets residents and visitors legally scoop them up without the usual permits. For a brief window, the state is treating the cold snap as an opportunity to thin a fast‑growing population that has chewed through landscaping, burrowed into seawalls, and reshaped urban wildlife.
What sounds like a quirky social media moment is, in reality, a tightly scripted wildlife operation. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has carved out a temporary exception to its own strict rules on nonnative species, betting that coordinated collection during the cold spell can blunt the ecological and economic damage these reptiles cause.
How a cold snap turned iguanas into easy targets
The starting point is the weather. As South and Southwest Florida plunged toward near‑freezing temperatures, the cold pushed green iguanas into a physiological shutdown that biologists describe as a state of torpor. In that condition, the reptiles lose muscle control, topple from trees, and lie on lawns or pool decks looking “frozen,” even though their vital functions continue at a low ebb, a pattern that Near freezing conditions have produced before. Wildlife officials say Florida’s cold weather causes invasive green iguanas to become immobile long before they actually die, which explains the sudden rain of reptiles from tree canopies described in detailed guidance from Florida’s cold weather.
That meteorological twist collided with a long‑running ecological problem. Green Iguana populations have exploded in urban and suburban corridors, where they chew ornamental plants, undermine sidewalks with burrows, and compete with native species. The state classifies them as nonnative wildlife that is not protected in Florida except by anti‑cruelty laws, a status spelled out in the official Regulatory Status for the species. Biologists note that Green Iguana adults can reach impressive sizes and, in Florida and the Caribbean, usually have bright green coloration, a description that appears in the state’s own profile of the Green Iguana.
The emergency order that opened the iguana floodgates
Faced with that combination of cold‑stunned animals and entrenched ecological damage, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, issued an executive order that temporarily relaxes normal permit rules. On Jan. 30, the Florida agency authorized people without a permit to capture and transport live, cold‑stunned green iguanas, a step described in the official FWC order and echoed in local coverage that noted how As South Florida braced for some of the coldest nights in years, regulators moved quickly to bend the usual rules. The order is framed as a short‑term response to a specific weather event, not a permanent rewrite of Florida’s nonnative wildlife policy.
Under ordinary conditions, Florida law classifies iguanas as nonnative species that require permits for certain handling and transport, part of a broader licensing system for nonnative species. The emergency order carves out an exception to that framework, but only for the duration of the cold weather advisory and only for specific drop‑off pathways. One local summary of the rule stresses that the executive order allows people without a permit to be in temporary possession of live iguanas, as long as they are promptly delivered to designated FWC offices, a condition spelled out in detail in the explanation of how the Florida executive order works.
Where the iguanas go after residents pick them up
The emergency rule does not simply invite people to collect reptiles and keep them. Instead, it channels the stunned iguanas into a controlled pipeline run by FWC staff and licensed professionals. People without a permit may transport live, cold‑stunned green iguanas only to specific FWC facilities, including the FWC South Florida Regional Lab at 2796 Overseas Highway 119 in Marathon, FL 33050, and an FWC Office at 10052 NW 53rd in Sunrise, FL 33351, locations listed explicitly in the agency’s South Florida Regional notice. Once there, the animals are transferred to FWC staff or licensed animal dealers who can humanely euthanize or otherwise manage them under existing nonnative species rules.
Officials have also set up a network of five drop‑off sites where Floridians can bring frozen or cold‑stunned iguanas during the cold snap, a system described in detail in guidance that notes Floridians can kill the invasive reptiles themselves or turn them over while a weather advisory is in place, as long as they follow humane methods outlined by FWC. In parallel, Florida Fish and Wildlife officers are collecting frozen, cold‑stunned iguanas themselves, including animals found in unusual spots like a pool, according to one account of how Florida Fish and staff are working alongside residents.
What residents are allowed to do, and what remains off‑limits
For people on the ground, the rules are both looser and more complicated than a simple “grab what you see” directive. The emergency order allows Floridians and visitors to pick up live, cold‑stunned iguanas without a permit, but only using legal and humane methods, a standard that one summary captures by noting that Iguanas can be collected “using legal and humane methods” and that They can recover their movement faster than expected and become defensive if mishandled, a warning drawn from a detailed explanation of the Iguanas order. Another account emphasizes that “the iguanas must be contained in a way that prevents their ability to move freely,” a phrase that appears in guidance explaining how the animals should be boxed or caged during transport, as quoted in a report that also highlights how a Professional exterminator is advising residents.
At the same time, the order does not suspend Florida’s broader framework for nonnative wildlife. The state’s licensing rules for nonnative species still apply outside the narrow window of the cold snap, and officials are clear that the emergency order is temporary, a point reinforced in explanations of how nonnative species permits normally function. Usually, Florida residents are not allowed to transport live iguanas without specific authorization, a restriction spelled out in a breakdown that begins with the line “Usually, Florida residents aren’t” permitted to move the animals, language that appears in a detailed Florida residents explainer. The emergency order simply pauses that rule for cold‑stunned iguanas, and only if they are on a direct path to FWC or licensed handlers.
Why Florida is seizing this moment, and how long it will last
From the state’s perspective, the deep freeze is less a curiosity than a tactical opening in a long campaign against invasive reptiles. Green iguanas are not native to Florida and are considered an invasive species due to their impact on infrastructure and native wildlife, a judgment that appears in the state’s own description of the Green species. By letting residents and visitors help collect immobilized animals, FWC is effectively crowdsourcing part of that control effort during a brief period when the lizards are easiest to catch.
The window is narrow. The emergency order is tied to a specific cold front sweeping through South and Southwest Florida, a weather event that prompted the state to issue an emergency order for cold‑stunned iguana removal and to coordinate transfer to licensed animal dealers, as described in a detailed account of how Florida issues such orders. Another summary notes that on Jan. 30 the Florida agency formally signed the emergency directive in response to the same cold front, underscoring that the legal flexibility is pegged to a specific weather advisory, as laid out in a timeline that explains how On Jan. 30 the decision was made.
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