Lizard on loose in Maine neighbourhood captured

PORTLAND, Maine – Police in the Maine city of Portland have captured a large lizard that’s been on the loose in a residential neighbourhood.

Residents of a Deering home spotted the lizard in their backyard Thursday. Police say the lizard , an Argentina black and white tegu, was living under a shed in an old groundhog burrow.

An animal control officer was able to capture the reptile in a net Saturday by using hardboiled eggs as bait.

The Portland Police Department posted on Facebook a photo of animal control officer Ruu Weist holding the lizard, which she described as “actually very friendly, if headstrong and stubborn.”

The Portland Press Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2tXnH2Q ) that the officer says the owner had apparently lost the female lizard while he let her sunbathe on his porch.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com