Random Wild Animals That Cause Serious Problems In Florida (13 items)

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  (#1) Giant African snail

  • Achatina fulica

  This nightmarish snail, which looks like something out of a horrific sci-fi film, is terrorizing south Florida residents. While you'll have more luck outrunning a snail than you would an alligator, these guys have some wormy friends, and their friends are packing. USGS biologists collected tissue samples from a bunch of these squishy suckers and found out that they carry the rat lungworm parasite.

  This parasitic burrows into humans and causes painful headaches, vomiting, and a stiff neck. In the worst cases, it can transmit meningitis to humans. Anyone who picks up a snail is at risk. 
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  (#2) Cannibalistic Lionfish

  Lionfish haven't always had a presence in Florida, as their native region is the Indo-Pacific, but experts believe that when a lionfish was released from an aquarium into the wild in the late '80s, things started spiraling out of control. Lionfish lay two million eggs a year and have no known predators in Florida waters. Thus, populations have been growing at an overwhelming speed with no end in sight. These spiky-finned little guys are natural predators and typically feed on smaller fish and crustaceans. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough tiny fish to feed them, so they're turning to cannibalism.

  Cannibalism is extremely rare for animals. Fisherman Gary Nichols told National Geographic that he has only seen this trait in small invertebrates like shrimp, which were caught in his lobster traps. Nichols believes that lionfish are eating each other because there simply aren't enough crustaceans around to satisfy their hunger.

  Currently, experts can't figure out what to do about the problem, and one marine researcher thinks the issue is too far gone.  In an interview with National Geographic, Matthew Johnson admitted, "It is way too late to do anything about it. We need to learn from this example and not let it happen again." So, perhaps the lionfish will kill off most of the other fish around them or maybe they'll kill off each other. Either way, there's little anyone can do to stop them.
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  (#3) Rhesus Macaque

  • Macaca mulatta

  In 1938, a tug boat operator named Colonel Tooey purchased a bunch of rhesus macaques from an exotic wildlife dealer to spice up his jungle boat touring business. Tooey released these monkeys on a small man-made island, from which they ventured into Florida and started rapidly reproducing. As of January 2016, an estimated 200 rhesus monkeys live in Silver Springs Park, Florida.

  That may not seem like a ton of monkeys, but these animals are actually quite a hazard to anyone they come in contact with because they carry the Herpes-B virus. The virus kills a whopping 8% of people who contract it, and anyone who gets a scratch or touches a monkey's bodily fluids is at risk.
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  (#4) Common Peafowl

  • Pavo cristatus

  Peacocks may be gorgeous, regal birds, but they're also royal pains in the butt. Despite their beauty, these birds are large and ridiculously noisy. In fact, one woman in Hawaii became so enraged with their constant squawking that she beat one to death with a baseball bat and was arrested for animal cruelty.

  For the most part, peacocks are protected. It costs taxpayers an annoying $2,500 a year to relocate the birds, who are sent to farms instead of being killed off like more dangerous invasive species. Peacocks simply aren't meant for suburban life. They peck the paint off of cars and frequently get stuck on people's roofs. A Florida resident named Kip O'Neill said that she finds around 30 of the birds on her roof at times. She has also had to get her car repainted twice.

  Many of the peacocks in the wild were once pets that grew too big or escaped from zoos and farms. Despite their annoyance, most residents try to live peacefully with them because, at the very least, they're nice to look at. 
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  (#5) Burmese Python

  • Python molurus bivittatus

  Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, but started popping up in Florida in the '80s where they were first discovered in Everglades National Park. Researchers estimate that anywhere between 30,000 and 300,000 pythons are living in southern Florida. The problem? They're killing off most of the mammal populations around them.

  Ever since pythons moved to town, the native mammal population in the Everglades has declined in a way that is devastating.  Where pythons have been living the longest, the raccoon population dropped 99.3%, the opossum population dropped 98.9%, and the bobcat population dropped 97.5%.

  According to USGS Director Marcia McNutt, there's no real way to stop the problem. She states, “Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America’s most beautiful, treasured, and naturally bountiful ecosystems. Right now, the only hope to halt further python invasion into new areas is swift, decisive, and deliberate human action.” 
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  (#6) Alligator

  • Alligator

  Florida is famous for two things: Disney World and alligators. In fact, their football team is even named the Florida Gators. But watch out! The actual alligators are real living, breathing reptiles that could kill your family's dog. What's most dangerous about these massive creatures is that they're opportunistic feeders. They'll eat almost anything, if given the chance. 

  In addition, many alligators have also completely lost their fear of humans. This dramatically increases the potential of dangerous encounters, and unprovoked alligator attacks are becoming increasingly more common. Every once in a while, they've been known to accidentally go for a human. In a famous case in 2016, a young boy was dragged into the water by a gator at a Disney World resort. 

  Alligators are basically the kings of Florida. Over a million of them roam freely, getting stuck in people's backyard pools and making marshlands a hazard. The scariest part? An alligator can easily outrun any human. You don't have a chance if one decides you're its next meal. It's only a matter of time before they own the land and people start paying them rent. 
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  (#7) Monk Parakeet

  • Myiopsitta monachus

  Monk Parakeets were brought to Florida as pets in the '60s and '70s, but have since taken to the wild. These adorable, brightly-colored birds wreak absolute havoc on Florida's electrical grid. Monk Parakeets make their nests on top of utility poles, which disrupts power and damages electrical equipment. The little birds are costing residents a huge price in maintenance and repair costs.

  Additionally, monk parakeets are pretty darn loud. Noisy flocks can be heard from great distances, ruining many peaceful Florida beach vacations. Rumor has it that if you pick up a conch shell in Florida and press it to your ear, you'll hear the distant squawking of parakeets who deeply resent living somewhere that's perpetually humid.
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  (#8) Vervet Monkey

  • Chlorocebus pygerythrus

  Vervet monkeys have been roaming free in Florida since the 1950's when they were believed to have been released from a local attraction or show. In recent years, this misplaced family of monkeys has greatly expanded. What's not so adorable is how these monkeys accidentally destroy crops. While it's not such a big issue in Florida, in the Caribbean, vervet monkeys cause a number of problems on islands that grow their own food. 

  The monkeys are also known to be mischievous, stealing food and other small items (like colorful tropical drinks) from unsuspecting tourists. 
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  (#9) Cuban tree frog

  • Osteopilus septentrionalis

  Almost every animal that's wreaking havoc in Florida isn't native to the land. They're very unwelcome visitors, and Cuban tree frogs are no different. These little guys aren't even native to North America, but they're found almost everywhere in Florida, from Cedar Keys to Orlando. Cuban tree frogs greatly threaten every other frog species in Florida.

  These little guys are ferocious eaters, consuming spiders and insects like a typical frog. However, they also gobble up other frogs, toads, and lizards. They're a growing threat to Florida's biodiversity. 
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  (#10) Nile monitor

  • Varanus niloticus

  These five-foot-long flesh-eating African lizards have been waging a war in Cape Coral's canals since the '80s. According to local legend, the exotic pets first started taking over the 400 miles of man-made canals within Cape Coral after a local pet store went bankrupt and let a group of monitor lizards free in an uninhabited area. Others speculate that exotic pet distributors planted them there so they could reproduce and be caught later and sold on the black market. Either way, their presence has caused a number of problems, including pet deaths and waning real estate prices.

  Apparently, people don't want to live in a place that's infested with dangerous lizards. These new-aged dinosaurs gobble up anything from bugs and road kill to endangered gopher tortoises and the family dog. They have no known predators in Florida except for metal traps and the odd alligator, but the city simply doesn’t have the resources to hire people to trap them. Unless the city can figure out a way to keep the population under control, the streets may not be safe for outdoor cats and even small children.
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  (#11) Mosquito

  • Culicidae

  Nobody likes mosquitos, but they're impossible to avoid anywhere stagnant water is plentiful. Since marshland takes up a large portion of Florida's real estate, it's no wonder the state is overrun with mosquitos. Everyone knows mosquitos are annoying because of their itchy bites, but in recent years, the obnoxious bugs have actually become a real hazard.

  In August of 2016, the pests caused an unprecedented Zika breakout, infecting 15 people with the disease. The types of mosquitos that carry this virus also carry other diseases like Dengue fever and chikungunya. Florida is trying to combat their mosquito issue with aerial spraying, but when a mosquito can breed in a space as small as a bottle cap, there's not a whole lot they can do. Besides, spraying doesn't even kill the larvae.
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  (#12) Asiatic Clams

  One wouldn't really think of calms as being much of a nuisance - after all, you just scrape 'em off the side of your boat and keep trudging along. Wrong. These asiatic clams are an invasive species that are taking over aquatic freshwater ecosystems throughout South Florida, particularly in Lake Okeechobee.

  Because they are able to reproduce so rapidly, and therefore take up prime real estate along the bottoms of lakes and rivers, they quickly put a significant strain on whatever area they inhabit, making already declining native clam populations even more vulnerable. Plus, once they die they leave their not-so-pretty shells behind en mass, creating a thick shell graveyard.

  They also like to gather around pipes, canals, and water filters, inevitably damaging them and resulting in billions of dollars in repair costs. The only benefit they bring is that they like to live in dirty water and do a relatively good job of filtering it.
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  (#13) Wild Boar

  Believe it or not - above all the lizards, pythons, and alligators that are running amok throughout Florida - the invasive species that provides one of the greatest threats to the people, animals, and ecology of Florida happens to be the wild boar. 

  According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “the wild hog is often considered one of the more problematic wild animals in Florida," especially considering that they are known to reside in every county throughout Florida, bringing with them a whole mess of problems.

  Aside from the fact that the wild boars are hugely destructive to native habitats, they also cause extensive damage to farms and agricultural plots. And considering that they breed all year long, their populations tend to grow rapidly, causing them to become even more wide spread. 

  To make matters worse, boars also happen to carry around a vast number of diseases and parasites, which makes their digging around in your vegetable garden even more upsetting. They've been known to spread "cholera, pseudorabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, anthrax, ticks, fleas, lice, and various flukes and worms." And even though they rarely attack humans, if you happen to find yourself on the wrong side of one of these guys, then you'll likely end up with more than a few tusk wounds as they tend to keep attacking until their victim stops moving.

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