When will Beardies stop terrorising the streets of major cities??
"lettuce, broccoli, that kind of thing . . . not people,"
THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 14 August 07 911 call was bit of a crock, not a croc - 'Giant alligator' was harmless little 'Bud' (Cheryl Chan )
When the call came in about a gigantic crocodile running wild in east Vancouver, six police officers rushed to the scene.
Instead of a 4.5-metre /15-foot alligator, as a panicked male caller described the creature he spotted in his backyard Sunday night, police found a 30-centimetre /11-inch lizard known as a bearded dragon.
"With all the big burly police officers that were there . . . a policewoman was the only one able and prepared to wrestle this thing," Const. Howard Chow said yesterday.
He said Const. Tracey Prentice donned some gloves and wrestled the lizard into a shoebox.
The lizard was taken to an animal shelter, where it was warmed under sunlamps.
The bearded dragon, affectionately nicknamed Bud by its handlers, is a delicate creature that needs warmth, care and a proper diet to survive, said Paul Teichroeb, chief licence inspector for the city of Vancouver.
The creature isn't the carnivorous type, either. Its usual diet consists of fruit and vegetables -- "lettuce, broccoli, that kind of thing . . . not people," said Teichroeb.
Police are hoping Bud's owner will come forward to claim the tame, domesticated creature. Otherwise, it will have to be sent to a reptile refuge centre -- likely an already-overcrowded one because "reptiles aren't as popular as they used to be," said Teichroeb.
Chow said the man who called 911 to report the "crocodile" in his East 49th Street backyard told the dispatcher twice that it was at least 4.5 metres long.
"Maybe he was caught up in the moment and maybe that's what led to his inaccuracy about the size of the 'crocodile,' " said Chow.
