HONOLULU — Two men working on a roof on Oahu have captured a member of an illegal, invasive species after seeing the giant green lizard munching on a dead bird.
Brothers Nick and Ryan Lundquist were working in Kailua on Wednesday when they spotted the animal, identified by the state Department of Agriculture as a Cuban Knight anole. The lizard, which can be found climbing trees, is a threat to native birds and eggs. It also carries salmonella, KHON-TV reported.
The brothers decided to team up and catch the lizard once they noticed it chewing on the bird.
“(The bird) looked kind of mangled or whatnot. It look kind of weird, and then the next thing I know, it turns to the left, and it looks, just a big old lizard eating it, so I yell to my brother, you’ve got to get up here,” Ryan Lundquist said.
They were eventually able to catch the lizard and contain it, but not without a struggle.
“As soon as we cut the branch, that thing jumps onto (my brother’s) hand, and he’s like, ‘Where is it?’ and I’m like, ‘It’s on your hand,’” said Nick Lundquist. “It jumps onto the roof and he straight grabs it and it just goes, it starts biting him (on his glove). He picks it up, throws it in the bucket, and I put the mesh on top, and it’s going crazy in the bucket.”
Officials had asked the men to hold on to the lizard until someone could collect it the following day.
The agriculture department said there’s been a known population of the lizard for decades on Oahu, between Lanikai and Kahaluu. The department gets about four calls a year related to Cuban Knight anoles.