Rare Lizard Spotted in St. Catharines

Photo Credit: Lincoln County Humane Society

July 29, 2019

By: Marcie Culbert

Why did the lizard cross the road?

That's the question lots of people in St. Catharines were asking last week, when a 4-foot reptile stopped traffic in the Westchester Crescent and Queenston Street area.

Kevin Strooband, the Executive Director of the Lincoln County Humane Society, says it was a rare species.

"The water monitor is about 4-feet long, it's mostly black with some speckles on it and it's very aggressive to humans. It wants to eat and anything that gets in it's way it's going to take care of."

Strooband says a local resident helped bring the reptile in.

"The person who called us and caught it actually had some experience with these animals was bitten on the hand. But he's okay and our officer wore the gloves and didn't get bitten."

It's prohibited to own a water monitor in the Garden City, so it was sent off to a reptile sanctuary.

LCHS officers were able to track down the owner and charges are a possibility.