THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Mary Neal Grigg's neighbor knocked on her door to warn her that several boys were chasing a strange beast in Grigg's yard.
``How bad can it be?'' Grigg said she asked.
``Prepare yourself,'' the neighbor told her.
No amount of groundwork, however, could have prepared Grigg for what she was about to see Monday.
There in her North End yard lay a 3-foot-long, brownish-gray monitor lizard.
``As soon as I saw him, I screamed and covered by eyes with my hands,'' Grigg said of the miniature meat-eating monster. ``He was 3 feet long, but he looked huge because he was so unusual.''
Doug Alcox and David Narr, both 14, managed to keep the lizard from escaping through Grigg's 62nd Street yard by stopping it with a crab net. Then the boys contained the creature under a large tub until an Animal Control Bureau officer arrived.
As curious neighbors came by, Narr and Alcox lifted the tub to let them peek at the creature with its thick, striped tail.
At first the boys thought the animal was hurt because it was so calm. But they quickly learned otherwise. ``It started hissing when we put the net over it,'' Alcox said.
``And when the animal control guy came to grab him,'' Narr added, ``the lizard whipped around and tried to bite him.''
Animal control officers are accustomed to picking up exotic pets that have escaped from their homes, Bureau Supervisor E.C. Ruffin said Wednesday. The officers often capture lizards like monitors or iguanas and snakes like boas and pythons. There's even a groundhog in residence now.
But the 15-pound monitor is unusual because it is one of the biggest lizards they've ever caught, Ruffin said. It's not easy to handle either. ``They're meat eaters and they'll bite,'' he explained.
The lizard, a savannah monitor indigenous to Africa, probably was purchased at a local pet store. Ruffin is sure the animal is someone's longtime pet because it is so large. But no one has called to claim it.
``I'm really looking forward to the owner coming in here and claiming him,'' Ruffin said.
If the owner doesn't show up, the lizard will be available for adoption Saturday.
The monitor ``seems pretty fat and happy,'' Ruffin said, but all the same he is feeding it dog food and plans to give it a mouse soon. He doesn't want the lizard to get hungry, for more reasons than one.
``I certainly don't want to make him mad,'' Ruffin said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CHARLIE MEADS/Staff
Animal Control's E.C. Ruffin's staff is used to exotic finds. But
this? At 3 feet and 15 pounds, it's one of the biggest lizards
they've caught.
by CNB