Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/21/2020
By: Wu Hsin-yun and intern Tzeng Yi-ning

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's Forestry Bureau has added the green iguana to the country's list of animals that must be officially registered if they are to be raised and bred, amid concerns over the damage the lizards are doing to the environment when released into the wild.

In the updated list of animals to be registered that also included 13 native species and some non-native species, the Forestry Bureau described the green iguana as "exotic wildlife dangerous to the environment, people or animals."

Green iguanas have been introduced from Latin America as pets, but many owners have released them into the wild after being unable or unwilling to care for them.

Without predators, their numbers have quickly grown, causing agricultural losses and damaged roads and riverbanks, the Forestry Bureau said in explaining why it had to tighten regulations on breeding, raising and releasing the animals.    [FULL  STORY]