Homeowner calls police on giant iguana trying to enter

Homeowner calls police on giant iguana trying to enter

2026-10-21

At a house along Yanhai Road in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District, a green iguana measuring an impressive 1.5 meters long recently lingered at the front door for a half an hour, knocking as though asking to be let in. The terrified homeowner called the police, but as they were waiting for animal control to arrive, the reptile leapt into some nearby bushes and vanished.

A man steps outside to investigate a noise outside the door. He looks down at the ground for a few seconds before an uninvited guest suddenly appears, leaving him paralyzed. He takes a few steps back to double-check before picking up a broom to try and chase it away.

Swinging the broom around gets the iguana to run next door. But the massive reptile kept hanging around the row of houses until the neighbors came outside to see what all the commotion was about.

- It ran up to the door and bumped into it.
- I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was scary.
- Never seen one before. It was startling.

- There weren’t any before.
- How big was it?
- About 1.5 meters or so. It was huge.

This iguana scare happened at a residence along Yanhai Road in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District. The huge iguana stayed there for a half hour, repeatedly bumping into the door until the resident called the police.

After the officers arrived, they found the iguana still waiting at the door, completely motionless. Not wanting to take any chances, they notified animal control. But as they were waiting for them to arrive, the iguana suddenly bolted into some nearby bushes and vanished.

Linyuan resident
Scared by iguana
When I tried getting close to it, the police told me to stay back. It’s really frustrating. If you see one this big, there are bound to be small ones, too.

Iguana sightings are becoming more frequent in southern Taiwan, but Linyuan residents say they’ve never seen one around their area before. Fearing that the nearby farmland might be affected, residents called on the authorities to find a solution. In response, the Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau said it has only received one report of an iguana sighting on Yanhai Road in the past three months. It reminded the public that there’s no need to panic if you encounter one, and to refrain from capturing it yourself. Instead, call the 1999 citizen service hotline and the city will send someone to take care of it.

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#iguana #Kaohsiung #animalencounter #greeniguana #animal control