RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Lisa Nakayama, land vertebrates specialist for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, held a green iguana that was found in Waianae yesterday. The iguana, being kept at the plant quarantine station in Honolulu, weighs about 6 pounds and is about 4 feet in length. The department reminds residents that it is illegal to possess or transport iguanas.

Waianae family catches
4-1/2-foot iguana

The reptile chased its would-be
captors on their first attempt

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

For the past five days, Waianae resident Patricia Badayos wondered what the heck her two pit bulls were barking about night after night. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, her husband, Patrick, found the answer in their back yard.

"I looked at it and it looked at me, and I was like, 'Wow, I think I'm seeing things,'" said Patrick about his encounter with a 4-1/2-foot iguana.

"Then he ran off, and his tail banged my iron fence and made this loud sound, and I realized that this guy was for real."

His wife said she didn't believe her husband at first, then she saw it for herself.

"I was like, 'Oh, my God! Where the hell did that come from?'" Patricia Badayos said. "We have a 3-year-old daughter, and if she was lying down next to it, it would still be bigger than her."

The Badayos, along with their son and four fellow members of the Waianae High School wrestling team, tried to catch the iguana with an old fishing net, then switched to herding it into a dog kennel. Patrick Badayos said the iguana actually ended up chasing him on his first attempt.

"Everybody was laughing at me," he said. "I said, 'Eh, no laugh, that thing is fast!'"

Finally, one of their son's friends chased the iguana into the kennel and quickly shut the door. Patrick and Patricia said everyone took turns looking at the largest reptile they'd ever seen next to Godzilla.

"We all stood around the cage, and we just kept staring at it," Patricia said. "It was ugly and big."

"I counted all my chickens," Patrick said with a laugh. "I don't know what he was eating, but he been eating good."

The Badayos turned the iguana over to the state Department of Agriculture. Officials want to remind the public that it is illegal to possess or transport them.

Anyone with information or knowledge of illegal animals in Hawaii is asked to call the department's hot line at 586-PEST (7378).

This was the fourth iguana found on Oahu since New Year's Eve.