Giant Lizard Captured In Florida After Frightful Encounter

DAVIE, FL — Zack Lieberman and his wife Maria had just finished watching “Jurassic Park” with their young children when they looked outside their South Florida home and spotted what looked like one of the dinosaurs from the movie.

It turned out to be an 8-foot Asian water monitor lizard named “Bamboo” who flicks her long tongue in an out of her prehistoric-looking snout when she walks.

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“My wife let out a loud shriek,” Lieberman told Patch. “I looked over from the couch and I saw this giant lizard sitting there.”

The Lieberman family hadn't been able to use their pool or play outside since they spotted the creature in late August. It was finally captured on Election Day.

A spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed that the agency began looking for the escaped Asian water monitor lizard in the South Florida neighborhood last August near Tree Tops Park and said that biologists had been monitoring traps in the area.

The agency got lucky when another homeowner saw the lizard on Monday and called in a tip.

"The lizard will be returned to its owner, who was issued a criminal citation for the escape," the agency said Thursday afternoon. "Permits are not required to possess water monitor lizards as personal pets, but owners must meet caging requirements. An inspection was completed to ensure the owner has appropriate caging in place for the animal."

Bamboo's owner was credited with helping wildlife officials with the search.

“In this instance, the pet owner came forward and provided us with tips about the animal’s behavior that ultimately helped our biologists capture it,” said Sarah Funck, FWC’s Nonnative Fish and Wildlife Program coordinator.

According to Wildlife Facts, the Asian water monitor is a carnivore, with a wide range of prey on its diet, a fact that was terrifying in and of itself to the Liebermans. “They will eat just about any animal they can overpower, kill and consume,” according to the website.

Moreover, the creature can stay under water for as long as 30 minutes while it hunts. They have been known to dig up human corpses and feed on them, according to Wildlife Facts.

“My kids loved going in the backyard, and they were just scared of it,” explained Lieberman, who owns a golf cart dealership. “It was frightening for them. I was a little bit alarmed once I saw how fast it was and the bacteria that it carries.”

A biologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission managed to snare the escaped house pet around the tipster's property.

“It’s terrifying — the sheer size of it,” Lieberman told Patch. “You’re used to seeing alligators, but when something out of ‘Jurassic Park’ shows up at your back door, it’s a little bit more alarming.”

Lieberman said the size of the creature posed a challenge.

“I don’t think there was a trap that anybody had that was really big enough to catch this thing,” he said, adding that the biologist used food to lure the lizard out of its hiding spot.

“She jumped on top of it and taped its mouth shut so it couldn’t bite,” he said of the take down.

Lieberman told Patch that he would prefer to see the creature taken to Zoo Miami or some place where it would not get out again.

“It’s not like it was a lost dog,” Lieberman said. “It was living in their pool, got out when he was on vacation."

Bamboo lives about half a mile away from the Lieberman family.

“We’re going to go swimming and enjoy these nature trails that we’ve got behind our house,” Lieberman said now that the creature is secured. “Everybody had been on edge these last couple of months.”

Videos courtesy Zack and Maria Lieberman. Photo courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.