Sunday, April 22, 2007

do NOT get an iguana (or for that matter any pet) if you cannot care for it

otherwise people like aj gutman have to care for them. i think what she is doing is noble. it costs a great deal for her to house and feed the unwanted, sick or unruly lizards. SOMEONE has to care for unwanted iguanas. again, do NOT get a pet if you cannot handle one. THINK first.
(oh and i went to school on steele road. the school isn't there any longer. the building is though. it was tiny. beach park elementary)

The Plight Of The Iguanas

By DANIEL P. JONES, Courant Staff Writer

WEST HARTFORD -- From the curb, AJ Gutman's chalet-style home on Steele Road looks like it could have been a set from "The Sound of Music." You're almost waiting for Julie Andrews to throw open the shutters and sing.But step closer to the front door and there's a clue that something different might await: a little white metal sign with black letters that says "Beware of Lizard." Once inside, the scene could easily pass for a back room of the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo.
About 30 iguanas share the Gutman home with the people who pay the mortgage. About half the reptiles - a foot long or shorter - live in terrariums. The larger ones - up to 20 pounds and 5 feet long - are free to scamper along the wood floors.........

..............The Gutman house is a sort of foundling home for unwanted iguanas.Although she knows how to rehabilitate and care for the tropical reptiles, Gutman, 50, freely admits she's inept at raising money or trying to organize and establish a nonprofit organization to keep her home-based Connecticut Iguana Sanctuary going..............

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