A 70-centimeter-long Nile monitor lizard that had been appearing around a walking trail in Gwanggyo New Town in Suwon, Gyeonggi, was captured on the 22nd. It came 11 days after fire authorities began their search.
The lizard was captured at about 11:37 a.m. that day along the stream near Hongjae Library in Gwanggyo Well-being Town. A worker performing stream weeding spotted it. Firefighters dispatched on a report caught the lizard with a landing net. No one was injured in the capture, and the lizard also showed no apparent external wounds, officials said.
The city plans to send the captured lizard to the National Institute of Biological Resources for final verification to confirm whether it is the Nile monitor lizard reported missing. If confirmed to be the same individual, the city plans to hand it over to a man in his 30s, identified only as A, who earlier claimed to be the original owner. On the 11th, A appeared at the search site and said, "That lizard is my companion animal that I lost about a month ago."
The Nile monitor lizard is primarily active during the day and has mild toxicity. It is listed as Appendix II under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and adoptive transfers must be reported to the jurisdictional regional environmental office when transferring or receiving ownership. If proper reporting procedures are not followed, such as lacking related documents, one may face administrative fines of up to 1 million won.
Police have been conducting a preliminary inquiry into A on suspicion of violating the Wildlife Protection and Management Act. As soon as ownership is confirmed, police plan to determine whether any violations occurred and will consider actions such as formal booking and imposing fines.