Management and Control of Lizard Population in Military Workplace: A Narrative Review

Many lizard species are closely related to residential areas and military workplaces. Military areas are often built on the outskirts of cities, and military programs, including maneuvers and camps, are often held in areas that are considered natural lizard habitats. Underground tunnels and weapons depots can also be habitats for these creatures. Although Iranian lizards are not poisonous, some of them can catch painful bites and cause injury and infection. On the other hand, facing these reptiles is frightening or disgusting for many people, so that it often causes fear and obsession, especially during sleep, and ultimately reduces concentration and the combat power of the military forces. Numerous cases of severe fear, anxiety, convulsions, and reduced efficiency of the military units have been reported following encounters with lizards. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to adopt timely and correct preventive and control methods to reduce the abundance of lizards in the military areas. To achieve this goal, identifying the medically important species in the military areas, their habitat, behavior and ecology are critical. This study aimed to raise public awareness about lizards and the reasons for their presence in the military areas, and propose methods of prevention and control of lizards depending on the nature and characteristics of the species. Zoological studies are necessary to monitor habitat and identify species and their abundance before setting up military buildings and permanent and temporal camps and before starting maneuvers. In this study, preventive and control actions are studied distinctly for environmental, physical, chemical and biological control of lizards in the military areas, as well as the need for training of health staff of the military units.