Huge relief as giant lizard finally captured in Florida

A giant invasive lizard that had eluded capture for more than a year in Florida has finally been caged.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) had been trying to catch the 5-foot-long Asian water monitor by setting baited traps and performing exhaustive searches.

FWC Bob Darling poses with captured Asian water monitor. Photo: Joe Natale/FWC Volunteers

The 20-pound lizard, introduced to the wild illegally, had posed an ongoing threat to native wildlife species. Finally, on Thursday, thanks to motion-sensor cameras and humane traps in the Key Largo area, the lizard was outsmarted.

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“Elusive lizard captured!” reads the FWC’s Facebook announcement. “Staff, volunteers and partners have been setting traps and searching high and low to remove this nonnative reptile for over a year.”

Asian water monitor measured 5 feet 2 inches. Photo: FWC

The Florida Keys Free Press reports that the Asian water monitor was first spotted in Key Largo in October 2017.

Asian water monitors, native to South and Southeast Asia, are the second-largest lizard species, behind the Komodo dragon. They boast sharp claws and powerful jaws, and are excellent swimmers that prey on turtles, rodents, birds, fish, and other wildlife.

Asian water monitor shown by motion-sensor camera. Photo: FWC

FWC volunteer Bob Darling had been trying to trap the lizard with repeated efforts using eggs and turkey necks as bait. A series of game cameras were used to to detect the lizard’s whereabouts. At times it would chew on the bait, without actually taking the bait.

It was “as if the large invasive lizard was too smart,” Darling told the Free Press.

The lizard would not be seen for weeks at a time but recently began to reappear in the cameras, and finally it was trapped.

Of Darling and other volunteers the FWC stated: “Their hard work has helped protect our precious native wildlife by preventing the establishment of a new nonnative species in our state.”

Darling, who has spent countless hours helping the FWC to remove invasive species, was recently named the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation’s Volunteer of the Year.

–Images courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission