FULTON SUN (Missouri) 27 September 06 Trademark iguana stolen from pet store (Katherine Cummins)
Photo: Dude, the beloved mascot of Paradise Pets in Fulton, was stolen from the store sometime Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Owner Tom McDowell said it appears that whoever stole the lizard was familiar with the shop and its security system. The five-foot long iguana is well known as local schools and is depicted on both the pet store's sign and T-shirts. (Contributed photo)
Tom McDowell feels like he has lost a member of his family.
When the owner of Paradise Pets arrived at work Tuesday morning to find that someone had broken in and stolen his five-foot-long iguana, Dude, he was devastated.
“I was very upset, almost panicky (when I came in and found him missing),” McDowell said. “He's like a child to us.”
McDowell said he immediately called the Callaway County Sheriff's Department, who came out to investigate the scene of the crime. Deputies with the CCSD were unavailable for comment at press time.
McDowell said he did not believe the lizard-napping is a random act because “it was too smoothly done.”
“They knew where he sat and how to jimmy the window without breaking it because we have glass-break alarms,” McDowell said. “Unfortunately, we had a dead spot in the security system there - the motion detector didn't pick up anything in that corner.”
McDowell said there was no damage to the store, and nothing else was missing.
“There were other snakes and lizards in there, but they just took the iguana,” he said.
Although Dude is a valuable animal - according to McDowell worth at least $1,500 - to the store and McDowell, he is irreplaceable.
“He's very passive, very friendly, more like a dog than like a reptile,” McDowell said. “If I went out and tried to find another one like him, I don't think I could.”
He noted that Dude - who serves as the official face of Paradise Pets and has earned a legion of fans at numerous appearances at local schools and events - also was very popular with customers.
“He's our mascot. He's on all of our advertising, he's on our sign, he's on our shirts,” McDowell said. “Everyone that comes in here loves him. I have people that come in just to see him.”
This is the first time such an incident has occurred at the store, and McDowell said he is hopeful that Dude will find his way back home to Paradise Pets.
“Somebody's going to brag about it, and I'm hoping my network of customers will recognize that he's ours and contact the police,” McDowell said.
Trademark iguana stolen from pet store