The National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department has introduced online registration today for people who have green iguanas in their possession.

By noon, 53 people in 30 provinces had registered ownership of 640 iguanas via https://shorturl.asia/cx3Ig. So far, it appears that people in Samut Sakhon province own the largest number of lizards (188), followed by Yasothon (150) and Bangkok (60).

The move is an attempt by the department to discover the actual number of such lizards in Thailand, as many have been sighted in public parks and in the wild. Their presence has caused concern among farmers, because they are known to eat crops.

Meanwhile, the department’s officials visited Lop Buri province to capture the reptiles, after local people filed complaints about their presence.

They managed to catch five of the 71 animals thought to be roaming there.

In Kamchanode, in Udon Thani’s Ban Dung district, local authorities held an urgent meeting and agreed that the Iguanas should be taken out of the area immediately, because they breed very rapidly. A source said that the animals had been released into the wild without permission.

In Nong Khai, officials captured three iguanas today and took them to the conservation centre in the province.

Officials were also sent to a housing estate in Lasalle Soi 46, in the Bang Na area of Samut Prakan, province after iguana was sighted there.

In Lop Buri province, a survey found almost 100 iguanas, but they only managed to catch three of them.