Giant invasive lizard spotted sunbathing near Florida school

July 6 (UPI) -- A Florida wildlife trapper said a tegu, a large invasive lizard, has been spotted sunbathing near an elementary school.

The trapper, James Dean, said there have been multiple reports in recent days about a Tegu lizard wandering a Palm Bay neighborhood near Topeka Road, and the lizard was recently seen sunning itself on the asphalt of the road, which is located near Jupiter Elementary School.

The large lizard was identified as a tegu thanks to a photo snapped by resident Larry Earle.

Dean said he is hoping to catch the tegu, native to South America, using a trap baited with roadkill.

"It's a 50-50 chance I'm going to get this thing, due to the fact of the terrain that's out there. There's a lot of woods. There's a lot of power lines," Dean told Florida Today.

Dean sought to ease concerns about the safety of children.

"Parents are concerned because school will be starting. And they want this thing caught like yesterday," he said. "They're concerned that it's going to attack children -- which it will not."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the burrowing lizards can grow to up to four feet long and have established breeding populations in Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties. They have also been previously spotted in Brevard County when two confirmed tegu sightings occurred in Melbourne in 2015.

Dean said the tegu on the loose in Palm Bay may have been an escaped or abandoned pet.