#Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

[xtruss]

A Mountain Lion leaps across a forest stream. These animals avoid water at times, but can also swim long distances in certain circumstances. Photograph By Jim and Jamie Dutcher, National Geographic Image Collection

To Reach An Uninhabited Island, This Mountain Lion Did ‘Something Totally Unexpected’

These cats can swim long distances and hop between Islands more commonly that we thought, which has big implications for their conservation.

— By Douglas Main | February 24, 2023

Mountain lions are not commonly thought of as animals that swim well—or are even capable of swimming long distances. But at least for one adventurous cat, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

A new study recorded a young male cougar paddling two-thirds of a mile from the mainland of Washington State to an uninhabited island in Puget Sound. The GPS-collared feline known as M161, or Nolan, took a winding path through the outskirts of Olympia, and along the coast, before taking to the sea.

That got researchers wondering how many islands might be habitable by mountain lions. If the animals can regularly swim this far, then they can likely inhabit more than half of the area’s 6,513 islands, scientists determined.

They also combed through historical records and found evidence of mountain lions inhabiting an additional four islands outside of the range of this youngster’s swim, all of over a mile from shore or the nearest island. This suggests the animals can swim even farther at times, perhaps close to a mile and a quarter. Young male mountain lions often undertake difficult and long journeys in search of new territory, as was the case for Nolan.

“We are redefining the mountain lion in our minds as an animal that can swim and is willing to swim,” says study co-author Mark Elbroch, who leads the puma program for Panthera, the global wildcat conservation organization. The paper was published in the Journal Northwestern Naturalist.

The findings were made as part of the Olympic Cougar Project, a broad coalition of researchers, Native American tribes, land trusts, and others committed to mountain lion conservation and research, as well as identifying and protecting wildlife corridors.

Interstate 5, a busy thoroughfare that runs south from Seattle to Portland, Oregon, is cutting off access for the state’s cougars and many other species to the Olympic Peninsula, a wide expanse of forested habitat that’s surrounded on three sides by water.

“I-5 is killing us,” Elbroch says. “It’s killing the peninsula—we need to address this immediately.” There are two spots where wildlife passages could be built, but time is running out to protect these corridors as development and sprawl continue, he says.

Nolan, who scientists tagged along with his mother in January 2020, set out on his own in April of that year. He bounced around a bit, finding his way into several towns north of Olympia. Researchers feared he might get himself into trouble, as such young and still-unexperienced cats “are trying to safely navigate a landscape without knowing what’s around the corner,” Elbroch says.

Then, between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. on July 14, he took a swim to Squaxin Island, an uninhabited parcel of land in Puget Sound owned by the Squaxin Island Tribe. Sadly, Nolan was shot two weeks later during a legal hunt.

A swimming Cougar (Felis Concolor) in British Columbia. Mountain lions may be able to swim a mile or more in certain circumstances. Photograph By Tim Melling

For this reason, islanders in cougar habitat shouldn’t leave livestock unattended, says Rich Beausoleil, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The findings were “not terribly surprising to me, but still very interesting and important… We shouldn’t always see water as a barrier to movement to any large carnivore,” Beausoleil says.

Taking to the Water

Mountain lions, which have the biggest range of any Wildcat, from Canada to Chile, regularly cross small and moderate-size rivers.

In Brazil’s Pantanal, where they’re called pumas, the cats also regularly swim in the vast wetland during the wet season. In 2010, Elbroch and colleagues documented a tagged puma repeatedly swimming across a large lake in Chilean Patagonia to eat domestic sheep on an island, swimming as far as 0.6 miles at a time.

As for swimming, “they probably don’t mind it as much as we think they do,” says Dave Onorato, a researcher with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who wasn’t involved in this study.

Even still, for decades, Florida panthers—federally recognized as a subspecies of mountain lion—were rarely seen North of the Caloosahatchee, a waterway stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf Coast once considered a potential barrier to dispersal. But in 2016, a female was spotted north of the river from the first time in generations, suggesting she swam across the waterway, in a bit of good news for the panther.

Amazing Adaptability

Since mountain lion numbers are much lower than they once were, and the animals avoid people, behaviors such as swimming remain underappreciated and anecdotal, experts say.

National Geographic Explorer Audra Huffmeyer, who studies Cougars in the Los Angeles area and beyond, agrees. While she wasn’t surprised that cougars can island-hop in the Salish Sea, “the distances covered are pretty incredible… the capacity of large felids to adapt to extreme habitats is pretty amazing.”

Nolan’s journey and all the data produced by Olympic Cougar Project will help land managers understand where mountain lions travel, and help identify corridors that need to be protected, says Jim Williams, a cougar biologist at the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, a conservation group.

The Olympic Peninsula certainly needs such guidance and protection, as its cougars have the lowest genetic diversity of any in the state, records show. The cats are also an umbrella species, and protecting these animals could help other animals they share the landscape with, Williams adds.

To Elbroch, Nolan’s journey represents “the ingenuity of nature—finding a way around an insurmountable obstacle.”

[ncfcatalyst]

Shell shock: unprecedented increase in sea turtle nests

Between August and October a remarkable surge in sea turtle nestings shattered previous records, surpassing the last record set in 2017 by an astonishing 40 percent. While the numbers evoke celebration, marine experts caution that behind them lies a more complex narrative. The extraordinary surge in sea turtle nestings marks a significant milestone in conservation efforts for these majestic…

[blueiscoool]

$1 Million Worth of Gold Coins Stolen From 18th-Century Shipwrecks Found

After an extensive investigation, Florida officials recovered dozens of gold coins valued at more than $1 million that were stolen from a shipwreck recovery nine years ago.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced in a news release Tuesday it had recovered 37 gold coins that were stolen from the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks.

The fleet of Spanish ships sailed from Havana, Cuba and headed to Seville, Spain on July 24, 1715. The journey was short-lived, as a hurricane wrecked the fleet just seven days later off the coast of Eastern Florida.

The first ship was discovered in 1928 by William Beach north of Fort Pierce, Florida, about 120 miles south of Orlando. Since then, gold and silver artifacts have been recovered offshore for decades following the first discovery.

In 2015, a group of contracted salvage operators found a treasure trove of 101 gold coins from the wrecks near Florida’s Treasure Coast, about 112 miles west of Orlando. However, only half of the coins were reported correctly. The other 50 coins were not disclosed and later stolen.

The years-long investigation by the state’s fish and wildlife conservation commission and FBI “into the theft and illegal trafficking of these priceless historical artifacts” came to a head when new evidence emerged in June, the news release said.

The evidence linked Eric Schmitt to the illegal sale of multiple stolen gold coins in 2023 and 2024, officials said. Schmitt’s family had been contracted to work as salvage operators for the US District Courts’ custodian and salvaging company for the fleet, 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels, LLC. The Schmitts had uncovered the 101 gold coins in 2015.

During their hunt for the coins, investigators executed multiple search warrants and recovered coins from private residences, safe deposit boxes and auctions, the news release said. Five stolen coins were retrieved from a Florida-based auctioneer, who unknowingly purchased them from Schmitt.

Investigators used advanced digital forensics to nail down Schmitt as a suspect in the case. In most cases, digital forensics can recover data stored electronically on devices such as a cell phone, computer system or memory module.

With the help of advanced digital forensics, investigators identified metadata and geolocation data that linked Schmitt to a photograph of the stolen coins taken at the Schmitt family condominium in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Authorities said Schmitt also took three of the stolen gold coins and put them on the ocean floor in 2016. The coins were later found by the new investors of the fleet’s court custodian and salvaging company.

Throughout the investigation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission worked closely with historical preservation experts to authenticate and appraise the recovered coins sold by Schmitt.

Schmitt is facing charges for dealing in stolen property, the release says.

The company commissioned to salvage the shipwreck said in a statement it “was shocked and disappointed by this theft and has worked closely with law enforcement and the state of Florida regarding this matter.”

“We take our responsibilities as custodian very seriously and will always seek to enforce the laws governing these wrecks,” the statement read.

Recovered artifacts will be returned to their rightful custodians, the news release said. But the investigation is far from over: 13 coins remain missing.

[sherrylephotography]

My photography @sherrylephotography

April 2023

Florida is home to several species and subspecies of cooters: the river cooter, Florida cooter, Florida red-bellied cooter and Suwannee cooter. I took this photo in the Everglades. I really like the vivid markings of yellow and orange.

information from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission.

[microbes-in-hats]

Karenia brevis

Photo credit: (Davis) G. Hansen et Moestrup 2000 (Gymnodinium breve Davis, 1948; Ptychodiscus brevis (Davis) Steidinger 1979) / Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

[rjzimmerman]

Since this article was published, another panther was struck and killed, bringing the total to 25 killed by vehicles out of 31 total deaths.

Excerpt from this story from the Tampa Bay Times:

A 10-year-old female on a county road in Hendry County.

A 2-year-old male in Collier County.

A 4-year-old female on a busy Interstate 75 in Broward County.

These Florida panthers were each killed by cars this year in one of the deadliest spans for the endangered animals since 2018. Through Friday, 30 panthers had died, and 23 were caused by car strikes, state data show.

Four of the year’s panther deaths are listed as “unknown,” and a male panther was hit in February by a train in Glades County.

The most recent panther death was announced Monday night by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The remains of a male panther, likely 3 or 4 years old, were collected Friday on the side of State Road 29 in Collier County, the agency announced. That was just five days after a female was found dead off Interstate 75 in Lee County.

The suspected cause of death for both panthers? Car strikes.

The number of panthers killed by vehicles so far this year is similar to recent years, with 25 deaths in 2022 and 21 a year before that. The peak was 33 car strike-related deaths in 2016, according to agency spokesperson Lisa Thompson. Historically, as the panther population increased, the number of panthers killed by collisions with vehicles has also increased — but it’s hard to draw conclusions with a year’s worth of data, she said.

Environmental groups were quick to attribute the grim milestone to the blistering growth and development in southwest Florida, where the vast majority of the estimated remaining 200 panthers roam the wild.

[offender42085]

Post 0641

Samuel Reager, Florida Q34193, born 1997, incarceration intake March 2018, age 20, sentenced to life

Murder, Robbery, Armed Trespass

As a message to any would-be law enforcement attackers, a circuit judge in March 2018 sentenced Samuel Reager to spend his natural life plus more than four decades behind bars.

Reager was sentenced for the August 2015 shooting of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Officer David Brady in an open-water gunfight. Reager then stole Brady’s patrol boat and attempted to run over him with it before fleeing with his co-defendant, 22-year-old Lachlan Akins, and running the boat aground near the Cove neighborhood of Panama City, triggering a massive manhunt.

Reager was convicted Feb. 9, 2018 of first-degree attempted murder of an officer, armed robbery and armed trespassing. Circuit Judge Brantley Clark Jr. sentenced him to spend his natural life, then 45 years in prison. The sentences are consecutive, meaning if for some reason the life sentence was overturned, Reager then would begin the 45-year sentence with no credit for time served.

Reager did not speak during the sentencing, staring blankly into the distance as his father and Brady’s family members addressed the court.

After hearing the sentence, Brady thanked Clark and the prosecution. Brady said he was relieved by the sentence and hopes it sends a message to anyone thinking about harming law enforcement.

“We’re human like everybody else,” Brady said. “We have families, and we love our community. That’s why we do this job.”

Clark said law enforcement and their families know the dangers they face on a daily basis, but that does not excuse those who carry out an attack on an officer.

“No one should expect to be ambushed on the job,” Clark told the court. “Something as simple as going to a boat for a welfare check, an officer should not have to fear being shot at.”

3s

Last reviewed December 2024

[responsiblelemon]

"The project, led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), is an example of what it often takes to save imperiled species in a world changed by humans. Conchs are now so rare that putting an end to overfishing isn’t enough. To survive, they need scientists to play matchmaker."

[somethingtodowithfandom]

Hey Y’all Animal Cruelty Warning

I don’t normally do this, but I just found out about something that has my blood boiling. I’ve been a pet owner my whole life—dogs, cats, and more—and have always considered pets to be family. Yes, even the fish I won at a fair; yes, even my chickens; yes, even the snakes.

Snakes can be a controversial pet—a lot of folks find them creepy. That’s perfectly fine, not everyone has to like the same thing. Some states have made owning certain snakes illegal; that’s also fine, assuming they’re doing so for the right reasons and handle it appropriately.

Then there’s Florida. In 2021, it became illegal to own reticulated and Burmese pythons in the state of Florida. This is because of an issue with them acting as an invasive species; due mostly to hurricanes, pet snakes in the wild became feral and were able to breed, resulting in native reptiles struggling to compete and occasionally becoming prey to the pythons.

That still leads to the trouble of persons who had owned pythons legally prior to 2021. Persons who legally owned these snakes before the ban are allowed to retain ownership until the pet’s death. Also, there is an amnesty program in place which allows exotic pet owners to continue caring for their animals until an appropriate home is found—this is run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC.

Then this happened. More than thirty snakes were killed with a bolt gun, without anesthesia. Included among them was a boa constrictor named Big Shirl. Boas are not illegal pets. Big Shirl was pregnant at the time of her death—yes, I do mean pregnant, too, as boas give live birth and do not lay external eggs. In this video you can see Big Shirl writhing for several minutes after she was shot; Big Shirl was a beloved pet who had been part of her owner’s family for more than ten years, and as a boa, should have been in his life for at least ten more.

The owner was not present on his property when officers of the FWC came to kill his animals; the video above was taken by a friend who had worked with the owner for years and describes being present for the hatching of every snake they killed. He also had explained about the boa, who they were not to touch—the officers were aware of this, as shown by their own expressions after realizing they’d wrongfully killed Big Shirl. He can be heard on the video, clearly distraught by what was happening.

The video shows that the officer using the bolt gun is untrained and unfamiliar with the device; one officer poses for a picture with one of the snakes they killed, too. The animals are pulled out of their enclosures and shot in the head with the bolt gun without any anesthesia—most reptile vets do not use this method. In fact, snakes can be euthanized the same way a cat or dog can. These animals were slaughtered for no reason other than existing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I genuinely feel sick. These animals should have been safe—they were in their homes, being actively loved and cared for. I know I would be devastated if this were done to any of my pets—and when I think back on the temperament of the sweet little ball python I was lucky enough to help care for as a child, it makes me sick to think that someone could take such a trusting and loving creature from his safe place and deliver a slow, agonizing death. I just don’t have the words for how upset I am right now.

If any of you have the time, consider calling the people involved with the FWC. If you aren’t comfortable calling, here are all the emails I was able to find:

tindl.rainey@myfwc.com Chief Communications Officer

thomas.eason@myfwc.com Acting Executive Director

sarah.barrett@myfwc.com Deputy Chief of Staff

jessica.crawford@myfwc.com Chief of Staff

hunter.jones@myfwc.com Chief Financial Officer

christopher.ryan@myfwc.com Officer

jonathon.wright@myfwc.com Officer

Please, please, please do what you can to help bring this to more people’s attention. Dozens of pets were just cruelly and unethically killed—these people need to understand how wrong what they did was, and they can only learn by being told. The owners and family of these reptiles deserve to know that they are not alone and that they have people who will support them.

[naturecoaster]

Wild Florida Turkeys by Janis Holte-Pavlatos

Recently, Janis Holte-Pavlatos, sent me several photos that she took in the Nature Coast. Although we are not set up for publishing reader submitted photos easily, I wanted to share them with you. The text is from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission website, verbatim. Osceola turkeys are a Florida subspecies. Males are larger and heavier than females and they have a dark beard on their breast. Image by Janis Holte-Pavlatos. All About Florida's Wild Turkeys Wild Turkeys are large birds with long legs, wide, rounded tails, and a small head on a long, slim neck. An adult male wild turkey is more heavy-bodied and larger than the female. The skin on its featherless head is pinkish-red with red caruncles (wattles) on its throat and neck. It has a dark beard on its breast and dark brown or bronze iridescent feathers. The female is slimmer and duller looking, with a blue-gray head and neck that lacks the prominent red caruncles of males. Females usually do not have a beard, but if one is present, it is thinner and smaller than the males. Florida is home to two subspecies of wild turkey — the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) and the Osceola or Florida wild turkey (M.g. osceola).  The Florida wild turkey is best distinguished from the eastern subspecies, which it closely resembles, by the white barring on its wing feathers. On Florida wild turkeys, the white bars on the primary wing feathers are narrower than the black bars and are irregular or broken, which tends to give the wing an overall darker appearance compared to eastern wild turkeys. Turkeys are powerful fliers. Image by Janis Holte-Pavlatos. Wild turkeys are powerful fliers, especially for short distances. Speeds of up to 55 mph have been observed. To conserve energy, wild turkeys primarily walk. They spend most of their time on the ground, where they search for acorns, seeds, fruits, insects, leaves, and small vertebrates. They can easily cover several hundred acres in a day. Wild turkeys are social animals and typically flock together in groups numbering just a few birds to as many as 20 or more.  They are extremely wary and will run away or fly to a tree to escape danger. For safety from ground predators, wild turkeys roost at night in trees within thicker forest stands. Courtship occurs during spring. The male, also known as a gobbler or tom, will strut, fan out its tail and gobble to attract hens. During these displays, the skin on the male wild turkey’s head turns bright blue and white, and the caruncles become swollen and turn bright red. Turkeys like to stay together in flocks, or groups. Image by Janis Holte-Pavlatos. Wild turkey hens in Florida typically begin nesting in late March or early April. The female builds a shallow nest on the ground where she lays an average of 9 to11 eggs. It takes approximately 12-13 days to lay the full clutch of eggs and another 25-26 days of continuous incubation for them to hatch. Newly hatched wild turkeys, called poults, are highly mobile and can feed themselves soon after hatching. Poults are flightless until they are about 2 weeks old. Until they are able to fly into low branches or small trees at about 4 weeks of age, they roost on the ground under the hen’s wings and tail. While the Florida wild turkey is common in Florida's Nature Coast, is found only in peninsular Florida. North of the peninsula and across the Florida panhandle, it interbreeds with the eastern subspecies. The wild turkey is a woodlands bird and prefers open forests and forest edges and openings. They are considered a generalist species meaning they do not require specialized food or a particular vegetation community to survive. Consequently, they occur throughout Florida in any suitable habitat. Read the full article

[beardedmrbean]

Searchers found the body of a 4-year-old girl who wandered away from her family's vacation rental in Florida, officials said Friday.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boat came upon the remains of Evelyn K. Geer on the edge of a canal in Port Charlotte, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

That location was behind a home the family had rented from VRBO, the sheriff said.

“We are heartbroken to confirm that the body of 4-year-old Evelyn K. Geer has been discovered,” according to the sheriff’s statement.

“FWC located her about an hour ago while searching by boat. Please keep the family in your prayers as they go through this unbearable time,” the sheriff's office added.

The sheriff sent the department's bloodhound to search for the diaper-clad girl around a neighborhood bordered by Barksdale Street, Cochran Boulevard and Collingswood Boulevard, about 30 miles north of Fort Myers, officials said.

Cochran had been closed during the search but that street has since been reopened to traffic.

[sciencespies]

Oyster reef habitats disappear as Florida becomes more tropical

https://sciencespies.com/nature/oyster-reef-habitats-disappear-as-florida-becomes-more-tropical/

Oyster reef habitats disappear as Florida becomes more tropical

With temperatures rising globally, cold weather extremes and freezes in Florida are diminishing — an indicator that Florida’s climate is shifting from subtropical to tropical. Tropicalization has had a cascading effect on Florida ecosystems. In Tampa Bay and along the Gulf Coast, University of South Florida researchers found evidence of homogenization of estuarine ecosystems.

While conducting fieldwork in Tampa Bay, lead author Stephen Hesterberg, a recent graduate of USF’s integrative biology doctoral program, noticed mangroves were overtaking most oyster reefs — a change that threatens species dependent on oyster reef habitats. That includes the American oystercatcher, a bird that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has already classified as “threatened.”

Working alongside doctoral student Kendal Jackson and Susan Bell, distinguished university professor of integrative biology, Hesterberg explored how many mangrove islands were previously oyster reefs and the cause of the habitat conversion.

The interdisciplinary USF team found the decrease in freezes allowed mangrove islands to replace the previously dominant salt marsh vegetation. For centuries in Tampa Bay, remnant shorelines and shallow coastal waters supported typical subtropical marine habitats, such as salt marshes, seagrass beds, oyster reefs and mud flats. When mangroves along the shoreline replaced the salt marsh vegetation, they abruptly took over oyster reef habitats that existed for centuries.

“Rapid global change is now a constant, but the extent to which ecosystems will change and what exactly the future will look like in a warmer world is still unclear,” Hesterberg said. “Our research gives a glimpse of what our subtropical estuaries might look like as they become increasingly ‘tropical’ with climate change.”

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how climate-driven changes in one ecosystem can lead to shifts in another.

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Using aerial images from 1938 to 2020, the team found 83% of tracked oyster reefs in Tampa Bay fully converted to mangrove islands and the rate of conversion accelerated throughout the 20th century. After 1986, Tampa Bay experienced a noticeable decrease in freezes — a factor that previously would kill mangroves naturally.

“As we change our climate, we see evidence of tropicalization — areas that once had temperate types of organisms and environments are becoming more tropical in nature,” Bell said. She said this study provides a unique opportunity to examine changes in adjacent coastal ecosystems and generate predictions of future oyster reef conversions.

While the transition to mangrove islands is well-advanced in the Tampa Bay estuary and estuaries to the south, Bell said Florida ecosystem managers in northern coastal settings will face tropicalization within decades.

“The outcome from this study poses an interesting predicament for coastal managers, as both oyster reefs and mangrove habitats are considered important foundation species in estuaries,” Bell said.

Oyster reefs improve water quality and simultaneously provide coastal protection by reducing the impact of waves. Although mangroves also provide benefits, such as habitat for birds and carbon sequestration, other ecosystem functions unique to oyster reefs will diminish or be lost altogether as reefs transition to mangrove islands. Loss of oyster reef habitats will directly threaten wild oyster fisheries and reef-dependent species.

Although tropicalization will make it increasingly difficult to maintain oyster reefs, human intervention through reef restoration or active removal of mangrove seedlings could slow or prevent homogenization of subtropical landscapes — allowing both oyster reefs and mangrove tidal wetlands to co-exist.

Hesterberg plans to continue examining the implications of such habitat transition on shellfisheries in his new role as executive director of the Gulf Shellfish Institute, a non-profit scientific research organization. He is expanding his research to investigate how to design oyster reef restoration that will prolong ecosystem lifespan or avoid mangrove conversion altogether.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of South Florida. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature

[third-new]

A Quebec man is dead after a boat explodes in a Florida marina, and six people are injured

Officials say a Quebec man died this week after a boat exploded at a South Florida marina and also injured six people. The explosion occurred on Monday, and the man was identified as 41-year-old Sebastien Gauthier, Arielle Callender, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said in a statement to CBC News. Gauthier was one of seven passengers aboard the 37-foot…

[rjzimmerman]

I went hunting for invasive iguanas in Florida. Not much went according to plan. (Washington Post)

There’s one up there,” yells my guide, Captain Bud, pointing to a green iguana in the boughs of a pine tree. Through the scope of my air rifle, I can see the distant silhouette of a reptile skittering between tree branches.

I soon lose track of it. Waves are rocking our small fishing boat on one of the drainage canals that helped makeSouth Florida’s suburbs possible, a patchwork of condominiums, backyard pools and strip malls.

It’s a surreal place to be hunting.

I’m here at the behest of the state of Florida, ostensibly to help solve one of its intractable invasive species problems. About 22 miles outside of Fort Lauderdale, among the golf courses and retirement communities, green iguanas are everywhere.

Since arriving in Florida from Central and South America in the 1960s, as part of the exotic pet trade, green iguanas have colonized suburbia. Residents and government officials accuse them of tearing up backyard gardens, collapsing canals and displacing native wildlife.

Florida’s response has been to declare open season on the species. “Every iguana removed is one less iguana causing negative impacts across Florida’s landscapes,” McKayla Spencer, who helps manage nonnative species for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said in an email. Since 2023, anyone can trap or hunt as many as they want on designated public lands, provided they don’t violate anti-cruelty laws.

With this in mind, I headed back to my home state to hunt iguanas — and it’s why I find myself raising my air rifle and slowly squeezing the trigger. An iguana high up in the trees scuttles off to the other, safer side of the trunk, untouched, my pellet having veered wildly off course.

I’m not a hunter. Growing up, my shooting was exclusively at targets. But I am among the ranks of people that Florida, and many other states, are hoping to enlist in managing species originating from beyond their borders. From wild hogs to lionfish, nonnative species now inhabit an area the size of California across the United States, costing an estimated $120 billion annually in damage — and hunters are being asked to curb their populations.

Florida is their wild west. “We have more nonnative reptiles and amphibians than any place in the entire world,” says Christopher Searcy, a biology professor at the University of Miami, who estimates 26 percent of all species in the state are nonnative. “If you value native diversity, I think it’s pretty bad.”

So my plan was simple: Go deep into Florida’s suburbs and see how hunting iguanas can help restore Florida’s ecosystems, easing the burden of invasive species.

Not much went according to plan.

[offender42085]

Post 0523

Matthew R Riggins, Florida inmate E47090, born 1993, incarceration intake in 2014 at age 21, discharged in March, 2015 after 15 months 

Burglary

In December 2015, authorities say a burglary suspect was killed by an 11-foot alligator while hiding from authorities in a Florida pond.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office says a Florida man, later determined to be 22-year-old Matthew Riggins drowned as a result of the gator attack.

Riggins and another suspect were in a neighborhood in Barefoot Bay to burglarize homes, Brevard County Sheriff's officials say. Riggins and the other man were spotted on Royal Palm Boulevard, but eluded authorities.

Neither Riggins nor the other man was ever located by deputies.

Riggins reportedly called his girlfriend to say he was being chased by authorities. His girlfriend called police the next day to report him missing when he never returned home, Brevard Sheriff's officials say.

The half-eaten body of Riggins was found in a Barefoot Bay lake just north of Ocean Avenue Way on Nov. 23. He was missing his lower extremities and part of his arm, deputies told the Orlando Sentinel.

Sheriff dive team members were recovering Riggins' body when they encountered a large gator "aggressively approaching" them.

Due to trauma observed on the body, a trapper from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was called, and an alligator approximately 11 feet in length was trapped and euthanized.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office says the forensic examination of the alligator located remains consistent with the injuries to Riggins inside the alligator's stomach.

Agents later identified the male who was in Riggins' company that night, however he has refused to cooperate with law enforcement in reference to this investigation.

3f

[news-wtf]

It described the large male bear as “stressed, depressed, lemon zest” and urged the public not to approach a black bear at any time, “especially those that are showing aggression like this big fella”.

Rangers from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) were dispatched to investigate after a call from the sheriff’s office reported “crowds of onlookers stopping to take photos of the bear”, which was sitting beside a telegraph pole.

An FWC spokesperson said in a statement that by the time its officers and biologists arrived, “the bear had dispersed and walked off into the adjacent woods”.

It said that, based on images shared with staff: “The bear did not appear to be injured. It may have just been overheated and was resting before moving on.”