Over 400 water monitor lizards were corralled and captured in Samut Sakhon province recently after 100 local residents complained the big lizards were eating fish, crab, and shrimps on their farms.
Director of the Protected Area Regional Office 3 Suthep Boonprakong led a team of officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to capture the invading lizards in the Sub-districts of Yeesan, Praek Nam Daeng, Klong Khone, and Bang Jakreng, NNT reported.
Water monitors subsist on a diet of fish, frogs, rodents, birds, crabs, and snakes. They have also been known to eat turtles, as well as young crocodiles and crocodile eggs.
Lizard lovers will be happy to know that the captured monitor were moved to Khao Son wildlife breeding center in Jom Beung District, Ratchaburi Province, not exterminated.
Monitor lizards are protected animals under the 1992 Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act.
