Monitor lizard wrangled in Midland
Midland resident Sheri Williams was shocked to be asked if she had a pet lizard after one was spotted in her backyard Aug. 11.
“l didn’t even know it was out there. Someone knocked on my door and let me know it was there,” Williams said. “To be honest, I was hoping to fall asleep for a nap because my kids were down for a nap.”
But that plan was disrupted when a man knocked on her door and asked if she had a pet lizard.
“I threw my shoes on to take a look, and there was another woman in my
backyard who I didn’t know,” she said. “She was from down
the street and said told me someone riding their bike mentioned there
was an alligator.”
The woman knew Williams had two young kids, so she went to investigate, calling animal control after spotting the lizard in the backyard.
“They didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Huronia Animal Control’s Randy Bidan and OPP officers responded to the call. Williams’s dog started barking, waking her two kids who watched from the window as the lizard was captured and put into a cage.
After the incident, Williams learned a monitor lizard is similar to a Komodo dragon.
“They vary in size and eat anything from plants to deer,” she said.
It turns out the lizard belongs to a neighbour.
“The animal control officer didn’t know if the neighbour would get the lizard back again,” she said.
Williams said her neighbour’s yard is completely fenced in and she is unsure how the lizard escaped.
According to Midland communications officer Randy Fee, lizards are prohibited in the town. A bylaw includes a $100 fine if any prohibited animals are found.
However, Fee said, there could be more charges and the town is still investigating the situation.
“They first have to identify the exact species of the lizard to properly assess the risk that was involved with having this lizard as a pet, and it escaping, and then also work with the pet owner in regard to re-homing it.”