Scooter has left the building.

The iguana, the unofficial mascot of Toot’s Restaurant on Scottsville Road, was scooted out of his cage at the restaurant after a recent health inspection.

An environmental inspector from the Barren River District Health Department came to the restaurant last month to investigate a complaint on a separate matter and made the request to restaurant manager Scott Collins to remove the animal within 10 days.

Collins said the restaurant has housed an iguana in a terrarium in its merchandise section since opening 15 years ago, having gone through previous iguanas named George, Pickles, Zoe, Chloe and Chuck Norris.

Most of the T-shirts sold at Toot’s have an illustration of either an iguana or Oyster Man, an anthropomorphic oyster.

The state food code prohibits live animals from being in restaurants, with the exception of edible crustaceans and fish in aquariums, as well as police and guide dogs.

“The inspector told me, ‘Be glad you got away with it for 15 years,’ ” Collins said.

Restaurants are subject to health inspections by the local health department every six months.

The health department can close a restaurant if it scores less than a 60 out of 100 on an inspection, if it is repeatedly non-compliant, if a violation causes a serious health hazard, an inspector is threatened or subject to physical or verbal abuse or if the restaurant refuses to allow an inspection.

The health department’s report of its inspection of Toot’s on Sept. 9 does not mention the iguana. The restaurant earned a score of 94 on its inspection.

“We requested that the restaurant remove the lizard just so there’s not an issue in the future,” said Barry Turner, director of environmental health for the Barren River department. “It was basically a risk the restaurant didn’t need.”

Turner said he was not sure how the animal could have been overlooked during previous inspections.

Many iguanas and other reptiles carry salmonella, and human contact with infected reptiles or with food contaminated with the bacteria can cause a potentially fatal illness.

Thoroughly washing hands before eating or preparing food can prevent spreading the disease.

Collins said the animal was kept in its cage away from the kitchen area.

“We’ve been told (employees) didn’t handle the lizard, but it takes only one bored college student late at night to decide the iguana wants to play,” Turner said.

Collins said he was disappointed at having to say goodbye to Scooter, who had been a popular attraction at Toot’s, but added that he understood the decision and does not plan to contest it.

“We didn’t want to make that big a deal out of it, but we wanted to let people know what happened,” Collins said.

One of the servers at Toot’s now keeps the iguana at her home, Collins said.