The trapping and removal of invasive wildlife is a heated issue in Florida. Recently the USDA has begun taking over contracts from private trappers.

From The Boca Beacon:

“The taxpayers of this island are being taken advantage of,” he said. “I’m sure the board members aren’t aware of a lot of these facts, so we’re going to educate the public about something that is going on that is very sad, and is taking jobs.”

Cera is part of an organization that has been watching USDA activity throughout the United States. Many are trappers who have been put out of work by the governmental agency, which, in its Wikipedia definition, “is one of the few Federal Agencies that actively competes with private sector companies. Aided by taxpayer funding they are often able to undercut the prices charged by private companies.”

Cera, who was the original trapper for Lee County’s iguana eradication program, said he had few qualms about the agency taking over when his contract was not renewed.

“This is not a sour grapes effort on my part,” he said. “But after watching three years of the same information in their public presentations, hearing a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ from their expert and having one of their researchers admit that they based their research on my original research, I started to do a little researching of my own.”

One would think it would be better to license the existing trappers to continue their work at removing the iguanas instead of bringing in a whole new agency.