An animal-lover filmed himself collecting iguanas that had frozen and fallen out of palm trees due to Storm Elliott blasting Florida.
The reptiles have been left unable to move and have been dropping from palm trees during the killer cold snap.
Brendan Denuyl, 29, filmed himself collecting an array of iguanas in his arms in Pembroke Pines, South Florida, as they suffer from the cold.
Iguanas are naturally cold-blooded and rely on heat from the sun and their surroundings, and when temperatures drop below 10C they seize up and become immobile.
Brendan Denuyl (pictured), 29, filmed himself collecting an array of iguanas in his arms in Pembroke Pines, South Florida, as they suffer from the cold
Brendan, who works as a grey taxidermist, said he was out fishing on Christmas night, which happened to be the coldest night of the year.
He said: ‘Iguanas literally started dropping out of the trees.
‘I dropped my fishing rod and started gathering them as others were still falling to my left and right.
‘Once I had a good handful and a few more on the ground next to me, I made a video showing people how these iguanas in south Florida react when temperatures dropped.’
Brendan, who works as a grey taxidermist, said: ‘Iguanas literally started dropping out of the trees. I dropped my fishing rod and started gathering them as others were still falling to my left and right’
Brendan noted there are also snakes freezing in the middle of the road.
He said: ‘Most snakes and lizards down here will find a near road to bask on throughout the year.
‘However, when temperatures dropped to 40 degrees they freeze up on those roads and can’t escape or even move.’
Brendan added that he does not like it when the state is cold.
No blizzard conditions were reported, but Floridians are experiencing other issues as the thermometer drops due to a nor’easter crossing the East Coast
He said: ‘We live in a state where there is one season all year – summer.
‘So when we have just one week that it gets super cold, we all get sick, lips get chapped, and nobody wants to leave the house.
‘I still did because I’m an outdoorsman, but it definitely affects all life in south Florida.’
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation issued a statement explaining that the creatures only go into a temporary state of paralysis.
They also discouraged people letting them into their homes during the cold weather as they would soon be reanimated.
Storm Elliott has seen blizzards, icy rain, whiteouts, and strong winds stretching from the Canadian border south to the Rio Grande, Gulf Coast and central Florida, and from the Pacific Northwest to the Eastern Seaboard.
This Buffalo neighborhood is blanketed in a thick layer of snow and ice after the storm
There have been at least 34 deaths in Erie County, New York State, which includes the city of Buffalo, county executive Mark Poloncarz said on Wednesday.
Roads reopened Thursday in Buffalo as authorities continued searching for people who may have died or are stuck and suffering after last week’s blizzard.
The driving ban in New York’s second-most-populous city was lifted just after midnight Thursday, Mayor Byron Brown announced.
‘Significant progress has been made’ on snow removal, Brown said at a news conference late Wednesday.
Suburban roads, major highways and Buffalo Niagara International Airport had already reopened.
A general view of snow covered vehicles in Buffalo following the winter storm that has rocked the United States
Brown urged residents not to drive if they didn’t have to.
The National Guard was going door-to-door to check on people who lost power, and authorities faced the possibility of finding more victims as snow melted amid increasingly mild weather.
Buffalo police and officers from other law enforcement agencies also searched for victims, sometimes using officers’ personal snowmobiles, trucks and other equipment.
A man clears his driveway on Boxing Day in Hamburg, New York
Some victims have yet to be identified, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a storm briefing Thursday.
‘There are families in this community who still have not been able to identify where a loved one is, they’re missing,’ he said.
With the death toll already surpassing that of the area’s notorious Blizzard of 1977 and rising daily, local officials faced questions about the response to last week’s storm.
‘The city did everything that it could under historic blizzard conditions,’ the mayor said Wednesday.
