Godzilla-like lizard scares condo residents

In Riverside California, animal services officers often get calls reporting “huge,” monstrous reptiles, only to arrive and find an itty-bitty garden snake. The 5-foot Monitor lizard wandering around a condo complex in the city of Riverside was way bigger than animal control officer Jenny Selter could have imagined.

“She said she saw it and almost jumped back in her truck,” said John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County Animal Services. “The residents were freaking out because here’s the Godzilla-like creature walking down the sidewalk.”

Selter managed to get a catch pole — a long pole with a loop at the end that’s used to handle vicious dogs — around the animal’s neck, Welsh said. It was docile at first, but then it started hissing. A police officer grabbed the lizard’s body while Selter held onto its sharp, lashing tail, and together they put it in a compartment of her truck that’s usually used for large dogs.

Black-throated Monitor lizards are carnivorous, legal to own in California and native to the African grasslands and parts of Asia. Juveniles go for about $100 in pet stores, but they grow.