'Iguana' Sighted On Tree Outside Building Turns Out To Be A Discarded Croissant

Residents of a Polish city were gripped by fear after someone spotted something like an iguana lurking in a tree. However, animal welfare officials who came to "rescue" the creature had a good laugh when they realized what it actually was — a discarded croissant.

A woman called the Krakow Society for the Protection of Animals (KTOZ) after she spotted a strange creature on a tree outside her building. She said people in the neighborhood were very scared and were not even opening their windows as they fear the creature would enter their house, the animal welfare group said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

"People aren't opening their windows because they're afraid it will go into their house," the woman reportedly told the call operator.

When the KTOZ staff asked her to provide a detailed description of the creature, she said it looked more like a "lagun," which is a Polish word for Iguana.

Rescue officials went to the neighborhood and scoured the area for the mystery animal, thinking that it could be a pet that had been abandoned by its owner. Officials were, however, doubtful as it was unlikely for a reptile like Iguana to survive the cool spring temperatures in the southern Polish city of Krakow, BBC reported.

Authorities eventually spotted the "creature" between the branches of a lilac tree but it had "no legs or head."

"We already knew that we could not help this creature... The mysterious 'lagoon'... turned out to be a croissant," the organization said. The rescue officials said someone might have thrown the croissant out of a window to feed birds.

"Because it's hard to help something that was previously baked, not in the sunlight. Because it's hard to help something that almost sweeps us off our feet... a laugh attack," the Facebook post said, adding that although they were "pleasantly disappointed" by the encounter, other residents shouldn't shy away from reporting any concerns about animal welfare.

"It's better to check and be pleasantly disappointed, sometimes (unfortunately very rarely) laugh, than not react, which can sometimes lead to a tragedy," the group added.