Iguana found on Ottawa street has new home

Ottawa -- An iguana found wandering the streets of the Canadian capital has found a good home with a reptile enthusiast.

Tom Wellum has renamed the green, yellow and brown iguana Darwin because of its "survival skills," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Workers at Dino Reptiles, the Ottawa-area pet store where the lizard had a temporary home had named it Boris.

Police captured the 3-foot-long iguana last week in Ottawa. Four officers responded to a call around 4 a.m. complaining of a wandering iguana and crafted a lasso to grab it.

No one has come forward to admit ownership.

Iguanas are native to the Central and South American tropics and Caribbean islands. They are distant relations of the land and marine iguanas studied by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.