Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation officers rounded up a total of 641 monitor lizards at the Amphawa district following complaints that the reptiles were damaging fish farms.
The monitor lizards were caught in Ban Khao Yi San in tambon Yi San. According to villagers, the lizards raided stocks at fish farms. Wildlife officers said the complaints came from 20 villages in Amphawa and Muang districts’ eight tambons.
The 641 monitor lizards will be brought to the Khaoson Wildlife Breeding Centre in nearby Ratchaburi’s Chom Bung district. Monitor lizards cannot just be killed even though they are considered as “pests” by fish farmers. The reptiles are protected under the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act of 1992, the Bangkok Post reported.
