Expert made offer to remove lizards
The week of November 19, 2004
bocabeacon.com
In June, a professional reptile wrangler told Lee County he could remove 2,000 "nuisance iguanas" in one month, and that he had already found homes for 3,000 of the spiny reptiles.
"The animals will be captured humanely and transported as per federal regulations to California and Arizona," Dr. Ben Schaffer wrote in an e-mail letter to Lee County Animal Services director Scott Trebatoski.
Trebatoski supplied the Beacon with a copy of the letter after Thursday night's iguana meeting with county officials.
Schaffer claimed to have over 20 years' experience field collecting, studying, capturing and shipping reptiles and amphibians.
The project of collecting the reptiles could have begun this month, Schaffer said. "Since the majority of the residence (sic) will be on the islands from November 2005 through March 2005, this will aid significantly in the capture and relocation of the iguanas," Schaffer wrote, unaware of the date error. "Several cell phone accounts will be established and given to all effected (sic) residences. As the iguanas are observed, the residence (sic) will be able to participate and contact us immediately to have the animals removed."
He said he had been working on similar projects for four years in Arizona and for five years in California.
Schaffer also claimed to have worked on projects involving iguanas, as well as other species of lizards, crocodiles and snakes in Angola, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Fiji, Benin and the Ivory Coast, but those claims could not be substantiated by press time.
Schaffer stated he was a licensed insurance claims adjuster for Florida and Texas. He said he would document all private homes and properties to limit liability issues.
Trebatoski said he had never heard back from Schaffer after the initial contact, but an associate of Schaffer's said Thursday that the county hadn't responded to the e-mail letter.
Linear Mode
