Why Are Iguanas’ Skulls Being Crushed In The Name Of Science?

BARBARA J. KING: ‘In an effort to reduce the number of invasive iguanas in South Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has funded a project in which scientists from the University of Florida approach green iguanas sleeping at night with the goal of killing them.

According to a report in the Sun Sentinel newspaper on March 9 — and followed up with pieces in other media, including The Washington Post and National Geographic — one of the methods the scientists use is to drive a bolt into the iguana’s head using a specialized tool. And, in some cases, they swing the animal against a solid object to bash in their skulls and brains.

The Sun Sentinel reported one of the scientist’s claims that these methods are the “most humane” way of killing the iguanas — and notes claims that it falls within the state law about cruelty to animals. About 300 iguanas are known to have been killed so far. The study ends in June.

These actions fit — even if unintentionally — a definition of animal cruelty. As the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida put it in a letter to the Miami Herald, the actions are downright “brutal” ways of dealing with living animals’. SOURCE…

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