Rosalind Harris has this message to the city: Lay off my lizards!
The two iguanas owned by the Manhattan actress are among the dozens of animals – from ferrets to leopards – the Board of Health has said cannot be kept as pets. “Please don’t take them, they’re beautiful creatures,” Harris said yesterday while feeding “Solel” and “The Lizard of Oz,” aka Saul and Ozzie.
She’s had the iguanas for nine years.
“I can’t live without animals,” said Harris, who prefers lizards to more traditional pets because fur aggravates her asthma.
Her doctor told her to get a turtle – which happens to be legal. “But turtles are boring. Iguanas are interesting,” she said.
While ferret owners have been the most vocal in blasting the Board – iguanas are by far the trendier pet in New York, according to pet shop workers.
They’re the most popular animal sold in the city, said Ed Frerotte, who works at New York Aquatics on the Upper West Side.
“They’re very cool. I prefer them to ferrets,” he said. “They’re easier to maintain and they’re more docile.”
Iguana lover Harris, who lives in Manhattan, played Tzeitel in the film version of “Fiddler on the Roof” and has appeared in several stage and screen roles. She says the city should force pet stores to teach people how to care for animals.
“It’s not the iguanas, it’s the people who buy them, and the pet-store owners who sell them,” she said.
Adult iguanas can be very large – Solel measures 5 feet from head to tail.