Feral lizard wrestled into captivity

EDGEWOOD, Fla., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A 4-foot-long African Nile monitor lizard was in custody in Florida after scaring a town for weeks.

The lizard was captured Thursday in Edgewood, Fla., a lakeside community south of Orlando, Fla., The Orlando Sentinel said.

Police got some help from Nathan Lowe, a young man who was studying for a test when he spotted the lizard in his yard in a confrontation with his pet bulldog. Lowe used a push broom to hold the lizard down while his father called police.

Officer Ron Hulbert responded and ended up holding the lizard down with his bare hands for 15 minutes until a trapper arrived with a cage.

"I was pretty tired, but so was he -- if it's a he, that is," Hulbert told the Sentinel.

Police said they believe that the lizard, a member of a species that can grow up to 7 feet long and is known for its sharp claws, was a released pet. They fear, from sightings of smaller lizards, that the Nile monitor, which has already become naturalized on Sanibel Island, may be breeding in the area.