MARCO ISLAND, Fla. \u2014 Marco Island residents are expressing concerns over increasing wildlife activity around their homes.<\/p>\n
Neighbors have reported sightings of various animals, from iguanas to palm rats, and are seeking guidance on who to contact for assistance and what actions can be taken.<\/p>\n
Laura Kotte, a resident of Marco Island, shared her experiences with the local wildlife.<\/p>\n
“We see everything from coyotes to bobcats to iguanas. We have rabbits, we have rats,” said Kotte.<\/p>\n
Kotte emphasized that iguanas pose the most significant issue.<\/p>\n
“Iguanas for sure, because they are an invasive species and they\u2019re destructive, so they really probably shouldn\u2019t be there,” said Kotte.<\/p>\n
Her neighbor, Harvey Springs, echoed her concerns.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve got a canal, and so I don\u2019t like the iguanas because they undermine the seawall, so I take care of those myself,” said Springs.<\/p>\n
Springs mentioned that iguanas are a year-round presence on his property.<\/p>\n
“Iguanas are here just about year-round. I see them during the middle of the day, when I do see them, occasionally, when it gets cold, we\u2019ve come across some stunned, cold, stunned iguanas,” said Springs.<\/p>\n
The city of Marco Island told WINK NEWS it does not offer pest or wildlife removal services, nor does it manage wildlife control on private property.<\/p>\n
Residents are encouraged to contact a licensed trapper or wildlife control operator through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).<\/p>\n
The FWC suggests several measures homeowners can take to deter wildlife, such as removing plants that attract animals, filling in holes to prevent burrowing, using noise-making items like wind chimes, hanging reflective objects like CDs, and spraying animals with water as a deterrent.<\/p>\n
For more information on wildlife control, residents can reach out to the FWC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARCO ISLAND, Fla. \u2014 Marco Island residents are expressing concerns over increasing wildlife activity around their homes. Neighbors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[182572,104395,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-394988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission","9":"tag-marco-island","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}