FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Green iguanas are despised for consuming gardens, leaving droppings on pool decks and bringing an intimidating, prehistoric presence to South Florida neighborhoods. But they probably don't deserve to be shot with crossbows.
An iguana was rescued Wednesday morning in Plantation after being found with five darts or bolts sticking out of its body, from what was presumed to be a crossbow.
Daniel Drake, a state-licensed wildlife rescuer who provides his services for free, received a report of an iguana in distress, with needles or darts sticking out its body.
"We go out to this iguana thinking we could probably pull the needles or darts out of it," he said. "It's not needles or darts. It's got five crossbow arrows in it. Somebody shot it up with a crossbow."
But iguanas can move fast, an attribute familiar to anyone who has seen one sprint to the water at the approach of a human being.
"We spent all of yesterday trying to catch this thing," said Drake, of North Lauderdale. "He could run, swim, eat like he's 100 percent fine, and he just had arrows sticking everywhere out of him. I went out this morning and he's up in a tree. I climbed up the tree and caught him and dragged him back down."
He drove the iguana to the South Florida Wildlife Center, a Fort Lauderdale affiliate of the Humane Society of the United States, which treats injured wild animals.
The iguana was given pain medication and scheduled to undergo surgery that afternoon at the wildlife center, where the iguana's large size led the staff to nickname him "Godzilla."
"His prognosis right now is hard to determine because we need to see the damage internally," said Dr. Amanda Grant, a veterinarian at the center. "We'll do everything we can for him.
"I don't know why anyone would do such a thing," she said. "He was probably just hanging out, sunning himself, and somebody came along with bad intentions."
Iguanas arrived in South Florida neighborhoods via the exotic pet trade, as released or escaped pets found congenial habitat far from the native range in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
As a non-native species, iguanas can be legally killed in Florida. But like all animals, they are protected by anti-cruelty laws, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They "can be humanely captured and euthanized on private property at any time with landowner permission and using legal and humane methods," said Carli Segelson, spokeswoman for the wildlife commission.
Drake says he knows many people can't stand iguanas, but said that's not an excuse for inflicting five crossbow shots on on of them.
"I think it's cruel," he said. "I love all animals. We moved into their neighborhood. They did not move into ours. I felt bad this guy was running around with arrows in him."
