Staff of the Cozy Hotel on Pratamnak Hill spotted a giant monitor lizard crawling in the hotel grounds on Friday morning. At the same time the lizard spotted the humans too and sped off into hiding. The staff didn’t think much about the animal believing that it ran off into the woods and went on about their business.
Not until the afternoon did staff of the hotel spot the giant 2 meter lizard again hiding in the hotel’s store room. Rescue workers from the Thappraya Radio center were summoned to help free the exotic animal.
It didn’t take very long for the animal catchers to apprehend the more than 10 kgs dangerous looking but harmless animal and take it away to be released in to the wild.
Water monitor lizards despite its looks are harmless to humans. They prefer to eat dead fish, turtles and birds.
Thais believe that the water monitor lizard called the “hia” (a word that has a derogatory double meaning) or the “tua ngern, tua thong” (silver & gold animal) brings good fortune if it crawls into your home.
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