Brookside Gardens' Unexpected Visitor: An Iguana

Each year, Brookside Gardens imports hundreds of butterflies for their annual Wings of Fancy exhibit, but their most recent import - an iguana let loose on the grounds of the Gardens - was not planned.

Last week, a staff member saw the three-foot green lizard near the Japanese Tea House, and quickly realized that someone had dumped the animal at the Gardens.

Although an iguana wouldn't pose a threat to visitors or the flora of the Gardens, Leslie McDermott, media relations manager, said, the Garden staff decided, after talking to Animal Control, the Maryland Division of Natural Resources and Park Police, to capture the iguana.

"Iguanas aren’t indigenous to this area and wouldn’t survive the cold winter months, we decided that we needed to capture the iguana for his or her own safety," McDermott wrote in an email Monday afternoon.

After another sighting over the weekend, it was one of the Gardens' own staff, gardener Lisa Tayerle, who ended up catching the iguana. The animal was transfered on Monday to the Human Society to be put up for adoption.

On Monday, the twitter account @brooksidemark posted the above photo. Brookside Gardens is asking that visitors not bring or leave their pets at the Gardens and contact the Montgomery County Humane Society instead.