Aggressive Mangrove Monitor Captured From Massachusetts Parking Lot

A Massachusetts animal control officer responding to a report of a lizard in a Burlington parking lot found something considerably more challenging than an ordinary escaped reptile: a large mangrove monitor tucked inside the wheel well of a vehicle. According to UPI Odd News, Burlington Animal Control Officer Jamie Jeffrey called the lizard aggressive and said it resisted being captured. Jeffrey sought assistance from Cambridge Animal Control, and the two agencies worked together to safely secure the animal. The mangrove monitor was later taken to Rainforest Reptile Shows for care. Staff found it to be in good health, although it had a small wound on its head. Jeffrey said the injury was consistent with the possibility that the monitor had escaped from a cage. Mangrove monitors are native to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. Jeffrey told the Boston Globe that the species is generally suited only to keepers with substantial reptile knowledge and described it as being on the aggressive side. Officials are now trying to identify the owner. Jeffrey said the lizard appeared to have been someone’s pet and expressed hope that the owner would come forward. Keeping the species as a pet in Massachusetts requires a permit, so authorities also want to determine whether it had been legally kept. The animal’s capture ended the immediate parking-lot problem, but its ownership and how it reached the vehicle remain unresolved.