Python Invasion Project: The Lizard King

Joseph Burnett grew up in South Florida, hunting snakes and collecting lizards from the subtropical ecosystem.

Today, he lives in Idaho, but still travels to Florida several times a year on hunts to collect as many lizard species as he can from the wild. That makes him a somewhat controversial figure.

On the one hand, he removes unwanted exotic lizards from the wild. On the other hand, he profits from them. He catches everything from the common brown anole to Argentinean tegus and green iguanas.

"I focus on lizards, that's what I do," Burnett said. "I catch everything down here."

Burnett needs no more than a shoelace and a bamboo rod to snatch even the largest lizards in South Florida.

In this week’s video snippet -- outtakes of The Python Invasion documentary that will broadcast on WPBT2 later in the year --viewers can watch Burnett on a hunt for large green iguanas.

Oscar Corral is the founder and president of Explica Media, and the director and producer of The Python Invasion. Follow him on Twitter @ojcorral

This story was originally published June 30, 2014 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Python Invasion Project: The Lizard King."