Are you missing your 5 foot pet lizard

 Godzilla-like lizard found walking sidewalk in Riverside condo project

Well I must admit, I would pretty much freak out if I walked out my front door and found this walking down the sidewalk.

I found this on msn news

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Animal services officers often get calls reporting "huge," monstrous reptiles, only to arrive and find an itty-bitty garden snake.

The 5-foot Monitor lizard wandering around a condo complex in the city of Riverside was way bigger than animal control officer Jenny Selter could have imagined.
"She said she saw it and almost jumped back in her truck," said John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County Animal Services. "The residents were freaking out because here's the Godzilla-like creature walking down the sidewalk."

Besides just looking at it - what disturbs me is that it appears that these are legal to own in California and are sold in pet stores. I really do object to the idea of bringing obviously wild animals from other countries here to be sold as pets. As in this case, what could be "cute" as a baby does grow up and many times is no longer fun or safe to own as a pet.

This may be a little different in that the shelter staff says it appears fairly tame so has probably been a pet for a long time. But I still object to the idea of bringing wild animals here for pets.

Back at the shelter, staff found the reptile was well-behaved for a Monitor lizard.
"The last one we had was nasty. But this one doesn't hiss and we were able to walk it around. It was investigating and didn't snap at anyone," Welsh said. "We suspect that it's been someone's pet for a long time, because it's so big. I think they might let it wander around the house. Maybe it sleeps on a bean bag?"
Welsh thinks the scaly pet might have escaped its cage or gotten loose while its owner was away, and he hoped its owner comes to claim it soon.

Any thoughts on this?

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