Giant Lizards Invade Florida's West Coast

For students, imagining a professor as anything other than an educator can be challengingly unnatural. Spotting a teacher beyond of the boundaries of a school zone is like a finding fish living out of water. Teachers acting outside of the classroom seem to be breaking some unwritten law. It is as if the classroom is their only environment and that is where they fulfill their solitary niche.

University of Tampa Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Todd Campbell understands all too well how it feels to find a species acting outside of its natural environment. When he is not in the classroom, Campbell is out in the wild, researching animals that are establishing communities outside of their own natural habitat.

And while finding a teacher outside of the classroom may seem unnatural yet unproblematic, Dr. Campbell is finding that this is not always true with animals. Especially when dealing with African Nile Monitor Lizards who are currently unnaturally establishing themselves in Florida and beginning to take over the canals of Cape Coral.

"What I found were trails and boroughs and scared residents and people who had had the things climbing on their roofs, eating their cats, taking goldfish out of their ponds, and cornering them in their garages," says Campbell.

These African lizards grow on average to be four to five feet long, although it is not uncommon for the reptile to grow up to seven feet. They are the largest lizard in Africa and are notoriously aggressive with sharp teeth and a strong tail.

Many of Cape Coral's residents are alarmed at the unnatural sighting of this large, carnivorous lizard lounging in their backyards, and Campbell understands their confusion. "It's freaky. It's really a surreal project."

Pet stores throughout Florida sell the lizard as a small, friendly pet that fits comfortably into an adult's palm, but most pet owners aren't informed that the animal won't stop growing for months and will eventually outgrow its tank. When the lizard continues to increase in size, owners often panic and let the animal loose into the wild.

Release by pet owners is a common explanation for most introduced species, but Campbell also theorizes that a local pet trader may have intentionally released the animal into the wild with the intent to establish a local population. Although, he cannot say for sure why the animals are there, he does know that the lizard has been establishing itself into the canals of Cape Coral for over ten years.

Campbell began studying the problem in 2004. One year later, he received $50,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program to fund further investigation. When the money ran out, Campbell was left with an extensive amount of information about the Nile Monitor.

Research answered questions about the lizard's eating habits, location, and population size. But most importantly, the research answered the biggest question: Can the problem be fixed?

Campbell says "Yes." The Nile monitor can be eradicated from the environments of Southwest Florida, but it needs to be done so quickly. "If we do no eradicate this problem in the next five years, there will be no hope."

But without funding not much can be done to render the problem, and Campbell worries that without rapid action, the five foot lizard will continue to spread its habitat as far west as Texas and as far north as Atlanta.

As of now, Campbell, his team, and the people of Cape Coral are in a waiting game, hoping Congress will grant them the needed $2 million dollars to fund their project. That $2 million dollars seems a meager request, compared to the $130 billion dollars spent every year on unnaturally introduced species, most of which goes to eradicating agriculture pests and plants that affect crops.

For now, the people of Cape Coral are doing what they can to help themselves. Whether it is writing letter to congress or calling officials to alert them of lizard sightings, the people are not waiting around for the problem to fix itself.

One resident, known as "Monitor Dun Dee," goes as far as catching the lizards on his own. Dun Dee once lassoed a six and a half foot lizard with an extension cord and then tied it to his deck before handing it over to local animal control.

Campbell is grateful for the helpful community of Cape Coral. "The public are our eyes, and the people of Cape Coral deserve a lot of credit."

Campbell is passionate about the work he does outside of his classroom and glows at the idea of being able to make a difference.

"I would love to be known as a person who helped to get rid of this animal."