Taipower Co said it might seek financial compensation from a Kaohsiung man whose botched attempt to capture an iguana sparked a power outage and left the lizard bounty hunter covered in second-degree burns.
The 22-year-old man, surnamed Chou (周), and another person were filmed attempting to capture an iguana near Kaohsiung’s Linyuan Industrial Park (林園工業區) on Saturday.
In the video, which was widely circulated online, Chou stands on what appear to be pipes below power lines near a drainage ditch and lifts a pole with a snare attached to it to capture the lizard.
Photo courtesy of a reader
When the pole makes contact with the power lines, Chou bursts into flames and collapses, while his friend quickly attempts to put out the fire with a piece of clothing. Others nearby called for help.
A firefighter said that when his unit arrived, they found Chou in a serious condition, and rushed him to a hospital.
Although he had second-degree burns over more than 40 percent of his body, Chou was stable and conscious, the firefighter said.
They also extinguished a small fire caused by the incident, he added.
Firefighters confirmed that Chou was an “iguana bounty hunter” who had planned to capture the reptile, enticed by the local government’s NT$250 payout per iguana.
Taipower officials said the incident caused a power outage at the industrial park, affecting three petrochemical plants for more than four hours and another facility for more than five hours, leading to work stoppages and financial losses.
“These are large petrochemical plants at the industrial park, which have high power demands, requiring high-voltage electricity wires. We had set up a special grid line to support 69,000 volts into the Linyuan Industrial Park, but now it has been damaged, and we have to repair it,” Taipower said in a statement.
Taipower officials said they are considering seeking compensation from Chou for financial losses to the plants and damage to its power lines.
Green iguanas, native to Central and South America, damage crops and upset the local ecology. Their importation was banned in 2015 and they were declared an invasive species in 2020.
The Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau said that local governments have offered NT$250 to NT$300 per iguana captured to control the reptiles’ population.
While the bounties have enticed many to try their hand at capturing the lizards, bureau official said they must first undergo training and obtain certification to hunt iguanas.
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