Thai Cat and Iguana Make Strange Playmates

Published : January 10, 2013 :: 13:01:50 [ 1,265 views ]

Thai Cat and Iguana Make Strange Playmates

A friendly iguana wandered onto a man’s workplace area outside his Chonburi office, and began playing with his pet cat. The man initially wanted to keep the big lizard as a new friend for his cat. But the reptile is listed as an endangered species, so he turned it over to the local zoo.

CHONBURI – January 8, 2013 [PDN]; A man asked for help from a journalist to notify authorities about a wandering iguana. The man was identified as Mr. Jaipetch Thanompan, 35 years old, a staff member of the terminology division of The Department of Land, area 2, Mhuang, Muang, Chonburi.

Mr. Jaipetch reported to the journalist that he discovered an iguana walking in the area, and it was playing with his cat named Tam. At first he thought the iguana would bite his cat. But they kept playing with each other, like they had known each other for a long time.

His cat ran up and down the tree many times, and then it came to the iguana who was lying on the ground. Sometime his cat smelled the iguana’s mouth, without intending to harm it, while the iguana calmly accepted his sniffing new friend.

The iguana was so tame, Mr. Jaipetch thought it had probably been someone’s pet. But the iguana apparently escaped or had been set free. The reptile had nowhere to run, so it wandered into the area outside his office.

At first Mr. Jaipetch thought about keeping the friendly big lizard as a pet, but he was afraid that it was illegal, since the iguana is a protected species. He also did not know what kind of food it ate.

So he contacted the journalist for help to find an organization that could take the reptile. The journalist contacted the Khaokhiaw zoo, which came to get the animal. The zoo will be a good caretaker, because the iguana can be an educational tool for youths.