Carli Teproff
Miami Herald
Iguanas are a common sight across South Florida.
They walk across busy streets. They hide under cars. They sun themselves near canals and lakes.
But a toilet doesn’t fall under the category of normal habitat.
On Thursday, a Fort Lauderdale man came home for lunch and went to the bathroom to find the green creature staring back at him.
“He came home for lunch, freaked out and didn’t know what to do,” said Battalion Chief Stephan Gollan.
The fire department shared the incident on social media.
“Can you imagine lifting the toilet seat and finding this?” the department said.
The man first called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and was told it doesn’t respond to that type of call. So he called 911.
“We are the end-all-be-all,” Gollan said when it comes to “unique” calls.
The crew on Engine 13, which serves parts on the beach, responded. Firefighter Jeff Kurus put on a sterile glove and reached in.
After fishing out the critter, he released it into the wild.
This isn’t the first time a lizard has crawled into a toilet. Or the second. In July 2017, a man took matters into his own hands and donned old ski gloves, a gas mask and a bulletproof vest and removed it himself.
A month before, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Venom One unit removed an iguana from a toilet in West Kendall.
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