Great Green Lizard Frozen in Time

Mon, Sep 29, 2008

green iguana

Fire fighters are well used to being called out to rescue kitties in distress from trees that prove too scary, but a lizard? That’s a new one.

Firemen were summonsed by the RSPCA, in the UK, after some distressed residents in Cove, Hampshire, reported an iguana stuck up a tree. After arranging an aerial platform for the rescue and the presence of an animal rescue expert the fire brigade started their 45 ft ascent up the tree to find… a branch.

Bemused rescuers realized by the time they were 25ft up that the green-colored ‘iguana’ was nothing more than a weather-beaten algae-covered branch.

Real Green Iguana
iguana tree
Image by Roland Müller-Hasselbeck

The animal rescue advisor at the scene Colin Horwood said: “The branch bore a striking resemblance to an iguana when seen from the ground.

“I have never seen anything like it.

“We take all animal rescues seriously but in this case it was a good intent false alarm.”

Firefighters attending the rescue had thought the call was entirely credible as they knew the RSPCA had rescued another iguana in the area just the week before.

Source 1, 2

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animal rescue, animal welfare, green iguana, iguana, lizard

This post was written by:

Linda McCormick - who has written 130 posts on Environmental Graffiti.

Linda is a writer and editor, currently based in London. Growing up in N Ireland, she craved sunnier climes so set off around the world, forever chasing the sun. On her travels she discovered she was much more passionate about the environment than she realised – although never quite got the whole tree-hugging thing – and has always had a penchant for the unconventional and creative side of life, so working at Environmental Graffiti suits her just fine.

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