OCEAN CITY TODAY (Maryland) 21 July 06 Owner says giant iguana eats plants, not people (Christine Cullen)
Dogs, cats, birds and even the occasional monkey can be found in homes across Ocean City, or the most part, standard cute and cuddly pets. One local resident, however, found himself in front of City Council Monday night asking permission to keep his beloved family pet in the resort, a giant iguana.
Donald Duncan said he bought the 4.5-foot-long iguana a year ago as a present for his daughter, and was unaware the city required a special permit to have an undomesticated exotic animal as a house pet. A recent visit from Animal Control officers brought the situation to light, and Duncan attended the council meeting to get approval to keep the reptile around.
The council wanted to know all about how Duncan takes care of the massive iguana, everything from where it sleeps and what it eats to how it acts around humans. According to Duncan, the iguana is part of his family, and he tried to assuage the apparent worries that the creature is a potential danger because of its size.
“We don’t even cage it up,” he said. “It sleeps on the top of the bunk bed and when it wants a bath it goes into the bathtub. But it don’t come out of our house.”
In the year his family has owned the iguana, it has never bitten or hurt anybody, Duncan said, and “anybody that would see it, it would probably cause more of a fright to them” than to the animal. He assured the council that the iguana only eats fruits, vegetables and other plants, and is partial to cucumbers and lettuce.
Duncan said he had wanted to bring the iguana to the meeting to show the council how it is not a dangerous pet, but the Animal Control officers told him “you can’t bring it outside.”
Mayor Rick Meehan asked if the other tenants in Duncan’s building are aware of his exotic pet, and Duncan said they are not. Acting City Solicitor Heather Stansbury was not sure if the city’s code requires Duncan to notify the other tenants, but he said he would do so if necessary.
Councilman Joe Hall supported Duncan’s request to keep his pet, as long as he placed a sticker on the front of the door informing people of the large and exotic animal inside, so if firefighters or paramedics were to go to the unit they would not get a scary surprise. Duncan also agreed to have regular checks by Animal Control to make sure the situation remains OK.
Owner says giant iguana eats plants, not people