TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A massive green iguana that frightened a Taiwanese woman on Monday, has been "arrested and brought to justice," in southern Taiwan after a long lizard hunt was launched.
On Monday (Dec. 14), woman surnamed Liu (柳) posted her harrowing encounter with a giant green iguana as it sunned itself on a guardrail. The post soon went viral, with over 300 comments, including some describing it as a "little dinosaur."
In response, Pingtung Department of Agriculture Director Cheng Yung-yu (鄭永裕) said that he asked the Wild Bird Society of Pingtung County to try to use lassos to catch it and set up traps near the spot where it had last been spotted. On Thursday (Dec. 17), Cheng announced the rapacious reptile had been "arrested and brought to justice," and will be euthanized, thus ending what Mirror Media called the "Pingtung dinosaur rebellion."
Cheng was cited by Liberty Times as saying the lizard is 1.8 meters in length and weighs approximately 15 catties (one catty is equivalent to 600 grams), while CNA reported its length to be 1.5 m long. Cheng estimated the iguana was approximately seven or eight years old.
Cheng said that because the invasive species has no natural enemies in Taiwan, it has been reproducing rapidly. According to Forestry Bureau statistics, 8,570 iguanas have been captured in Pingtung County this year alone.
The Pingtung County Government is offering one bag of rice or eagle red beans for each iguana captured. If a person spots an iguana, they are encouraged to try to capture it, notify the fire department, or call the county government's 1999 citizen hotline.
(Pingtung County Government photo)
(Pingtung County Government photo)
(Pingtung County Government photo)
(Pingtung County Government photo)
