Lethal lizard invades Florida

The Nile monitor lizard, a carnivorous, sharp-toothed invasive reptile long the bane of Cape Coral and its small mammals and fish, has found its way to Sanibel, and could eventually show up in Broward.

BY CARA BUCKLEYcbuckley@herald.com

SANIBEL - The invader arrived furtively, almost certainly by sea. Tucking scaly little arms into its slender body, it propelled itself with its ridged tail, a well-muscled rudder, through the waters from neighboring Cape Coral or Pine Island, biologists believe.
And here it now is, just as the experts feared, a carnivorous, dagger-clawed, razor-toothed African monitor lizard that knows no Florida predators, running amok in a fragile nature preserve filled with nestlings and delectable bird and turtle eggs.
''We did consider offering a reward, but we didn't want people to bring them from elsewhere,'' said Judie Zimomra, city manager for Sanibel on the southwest Gulf Coast, which posted the lizard's mug on its website and cautioned that no ''infant humans'' be left alone. ``We're very concerned, yes.''
The Nile monitor lizard is cousin to the voracious Komodo dragon -- the same kind that attacked actress Sharon Stone's then-husband in 2001 -- and has been the scourge of Cape Coral for years. Half a dozen have also been spotted on nearby Pine Island, barely two miles by sea from Sanibel, and likely where the unwelcome newcomer pushed off. Far from being vegetarians, these lizards eat clams, fish, birds, mice, rats, spiders, snakes, snails and possibly marsh rabbits -- whatever they can fit into their mouths.
''Basically, anything they can catch, they eat,'' said Gregg Klowden, a University of Florida doctoral student in wildlife biology.
Cape Coral locals have reported a decline in the number of feral cats, and fear for their pets' safety. At least one lizard has been spotted dining on a tiny, endangered burrowing owl. There's also the possibility the lizards remember where rookeries are, year after year, and that like their Komodo cousins, they hunt in packs.
The creature's recent arrival on Sanibel -- one was photographed high-tailing it across a backyard -- raised considerable alarm, because 70 percent of the island is a nature sanctuary. The sighting also confirmed a troubling southward migration of the monitor lizard, albeit one long anticipated by biologists.
''If somebody saw one animal, there's probably more. This has been my biggest fear all along, that they spread south,'' said Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa biologist who headed a monitor lizard eradication program in Cape Coral.
Campbell added that he would be surprised if the monitor lizards were not already established in South Florida.
''There's been a lot of sightings down there,'' he said.
Nile monitor lizards were first reported in Cape Coral a decade or so ago and quickly flourished in and along the city's 400-odd miles of canals. Officials suspect they were first loosed by ill-intentioned reptile traders or by unsuspecting pet owners, startled that their hand-size hatchling had grown into ornery 30-pound, seven-foot-long adults. The lizards' current population in Cape Coral is estimated at more than 1,000, and when they nest, they lay around 60 eggs.
BIG AND FAST
While the lizards are preyed on by Nile crocodiles and felled by diseases in their native Africa, they have no predators in South Florida once they grow beyond a couple of feet in length. The lizards are also elusive, skittish and maddeningly difficult to catch. They can hold their breath under water for upwards of an hour, swim, burrow deep tunnels, dart up trees in seconds and clock an on-land speed of 15 mph.
Some meet premature deaths if they happen to be nailed by cars.
''They're amazingly adaptable animals,'' said Klowden, who worked with Campbell. ``If they could fly, they'd be the ultimate predator. At this point, they're not pterodactyls. Yet.''
Troubled by the lizards' expansion, Campbell launched his lizard study and eradication program in Cape Coral two years ago.
TRAPS SET
''Wanted'' posters were distributed, asking, ''Have you seen one of these?'' and long, narrow rectangular cages, baited with chicken necks, squid and chum, were positioned throughout the city's southwestern corner, where most sightings occur.
Even trapped lizards proved tough to wrangle into submission. They hurled themselves at cage bars, spitting, lashing their tails and emitting a pungent spray. A city worker cornered one but fled, he later said, after the creature reared up on its hind legs and hissed.
''Catching these things is not for the fainthearted,'' Klowden said.
Still, residents joined the city's battle in earnest. One local caught a younger lizard, sunning itself and sluggish, with a colander. Another monitor was trapped with an upended laundry basket. Another resident, a longtime alligator wrestler, lassoed a monitor with an extension cord. And one woman blasted away 14 hatchlings with a BB gun.
Last spring, Cape Coral resident Karleen Canas went after a Nile lizard with a flowerpot, held aloft, after she spotted a baby owl dangling from a lizard's jaws. The creature released its quarry but the owl didn't make it. Her neighbor, Bob Dudley, a retired Navy pilot, is so earnest in his lizard pursuit that neighbors have nicknamed him ``Monitor Dundee.''
Once caught, the lizards are chloroformed, slipped into a plastic garbage bag and put in freezers so their stomach contents can be examined. Even in death, the lizards are malodorous, carrying a musty, primordial smell. No evidence of digested household pets, larger mammals -- human or otherwise -- has been discovered, Campbell said.
Campbell caught about 110 lizards before his funding ran out, though the city continues to collect any that residents catch. Still, the biologists fear the monitor lizard infestation may already be beyond a manageable solution.
Meanwhile, on Sanibel, 10 baited traps lay in wait.
''We're about to do a citywide mail-out with its picture,'' Zimomra said. ``We're taking this lizard seriously.''