Iguanas

Not to my knowledge, they like many other wild life i believe cary salmonella or something like that in their mouth but must people do not allow them to take a bite of their alcapurias before eating the rest. They make nice pets, i seen people walk the with a leach, until some jerk steps on it.
Iguanas have been sold in many pet shops in the US years ago and they may still sell them. People used to carry them on their shoulder.

If you play with them and rub your eyes or eat something before washing your hands you may have problems, but rhat is the same for pet snakes, pet rats and other cute animals.

I like them but may change my mind once i start growing stuff and they start eating my crops.

They are consider a pest in the island, mainly because they will damage crops and since they do not have any natural predators in PR (unless you count the cars), they reproduce at a bigger rate. We have our mango trees invaded by them and saw the damage first hand, I have family that complain they eat their flowers as well. Last time in the island I ran over a few of them and saw quite a few dead on the side of the road. To me is a shame, they are a beautiful animal, just not native to PR and that is causing most of the issues. It is the same situation with monkeys, not native to PR and they are multiplying at an alarming rate, causing damages to crops and causing traffic accidents.

One of the stories as to how they came about is that the University of PR brought them to study, they place tem on a small islet off La Parguera in the 80s. They did not realized they could swim, so when the food ran out they swim to the mainland. I remember in the late 80s and early 90s, you can find tem running wild in the mangrove trees around Guanica, Cabo Rojo area. todays days, they are all over the island.

I remember as a kid chasing iguanas in Pueblito del Rio, Las Piedras in the 1960s

Are the monkeys infected?
I heard the monkeys in Mona were infected.

I hear the same, but I have not found any news about it. We see them from time to time around Guanica, specially around the plantains going to the beach. My uncle mentioned to me last year that he saw them over my property eating the fruits. I have not see them around the house yet, I'm sure the wife will freak the first time she see them in the backyard.

Here is an article about some attempts to get rid of the monkey, which apparently did not work if they are still around.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28317943/ns/w … glb77T8bDM

Some people released another 30 of them in the island (June 2015) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/28 … cility-no/

My dogs will probably freak out since the Iguanas and Monkeys are bigger than my dogs.

Thanks Rey!

I have hear of people getting into accidents trying to avoid hitting them. From afar they look like a person crossing the street, specially at night. My father in law told us he used to see them in the sugar cane fields in Guayanilla.

We've spent some weeks in Guanica and never saw one. (monkey)

Thanks for articles Rey didn't know about monkeys