5-Foot Monitor Lizard Found Roaming Calif. Neighborhood

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Animal services officers in California are looking for the owner of a 5-foot-long lizard that was found wandering around a condo complex.

Animal services spokesman John Welsh says someone spotted the wayward lizard in Riverside on Tuesday afternoon. He says Officer Jenny Selter put a catch pole around its neck while a police officer grabbed the reptile's body. They then slipped it into a compartment of Selter's vehicle that's usually used for carrying large dogs.

Welsh says the animal is well-behaved for a Monitor lizard, and it likely has been someone's pet for a long time. He suspects it escaped from its cage, perhaps while its owner was away, and hopes someone will claim it soon.

Black-throated Monitor lizards are carnivorous and native to the grasslands of Africa.