This Invasion is Not Coming From Outer Space

When the rest of the country thinks of an Invasive Species in Florida, they are

probably only familiar with the now infamous Burmese Pythons in the Everglades.

But in fact, there are many threats to our fragile wildlife and ecosystems here.

Right now, other than the very scary, to me, snakes, which are here by the thousands,

there are a number of other creatures wreaking havoc on, not only our wildlife,

but on our all ready maxed out to the limit economy, as well.

You see trying to keep up with these non stop invaders, is a $130 Billion, that is billion with a B, effort in this state.

The last time that we went down to the Keys, we were sitting in a gas station in Miami when a very large creature appeared right in front of our car, it was an exotic alright, it was a huge, wild, green iguana.

It would not be the only one we saw on our way back to the Freeway.

No, they are not native here and much of Miami now looks like a zoo because of the out of control numbers of them running the streets, more than likely the result of countless owners who tired of feeding them and just threw them out for the community to deal with.

As a matter of fact, this is exactly how most of these invaders became the huge problem in Florida that they are now.

Selfish, bored, stupid owners who just threw them away.

The exotic species now running amuck in South Florida include: wild Toads, no not the Disney ride, wild rats, wild birds, wild fish, wild or feral pigs, multiple kinds of lizards and a scary species of Crocodile, called the Nile Croc, which in its Native Africa, is a man-eater.

And none of this even begins to cover all of the invasive plants that are now here, doing exactly the same kind of lethal damage to their Native counterparts as well.

It is all simply mind boggling.

And we Floridians have to pay for and deal with all of this because no one has the guts to stop the sale of these exotics once and for all in Florida and indeed the whole Country.

The root for the gluttony of invasive animals, is of course, money.

There is very big money to be made in the business of catching, stealing and selling multiple species of exotics here.

But, the worse part of all of this is, that they are not just a financial problem, they are devouring and driving off or displacing our beautiful Native Florida wildlife, in sickening record numbers in the entire state.

An excellent story with all of the gory details about the exotics invasion of Florida:

Invasive Species Threatening Florida