Exotic Pets And People

Exotic pets and people make the best subjects for street photography. Lucky for me, I stumbled onto some prime candidates. Nancy had just finished lunch and her bearded dragon was taking in some Vitamin D, on the dash of her green Jetta. I had nearly walked ten paces past them, when I decided to turn around and say hello. As a previous owner of a fairly large iguana, it was easy to converse about a shared love for lizards. After showing Nancy a photograph of my pet turtle, she informed me that Culver City is in fact a hotspot for lizard adoption and abandonment. People are purchasing these scaly creatures and dumping them soon after. It's tough out there for a lizard.

Nancy was kind enough to pose with her dragon, for a few photos. She explained that she suffered from a disability, and that her lizard was able to help her cope. I asked if she could take him into an establishment, in the way one can with a seeing-eye-dog. Unfortunately, there are still many places her lizard cannot accompany her, due to public health regulations.

You could easily mistake this guy for a bobblehead...

Our discussion concluded with stories about our pets. I told her of a time when a woman visited my old apartment and thought that my large iguana (Lucy) was a piece of furniture. Lucy was perched atop a wicker bookshelf and when the woman walked up to her and stuck her index finger about an inch away from Lucy's face, Lucy let out a territorial hiss and an aggressive head bob, nearly scaring the woman to death. A word of caution: In the presence of scales, keep your fingers to yourself!