Some Melbourne Police officers going over some paperwork in a small riverfront park got quite a startle by a creature Friday afternoon.

The officers were parked in Overlook Park on the Indian River when they spotted a 3 1/2-foot iguana.

The lounging lizard was shading itself near a gazebo.

It was friendly, and the officers determined it was someone's pet on the loose.

Soon, a neighbor came outside and said the iguana, named "Groot," was her son's pet that apparently keeps getting out.

"He's really fast. We've given up catching it," Linda Lopez said. "We are just going to be out in nature, and we hope everybody lets her, too." (The family initially thought Groot was male, but they later found out it was female.)

The iguana is well fed; the owners give it a steady diet of vegetables. It's not considered dangerous.