SULLIVAN COUNTY – Investigators from the State Department of Environmental Conservation seized an illegally possessed five-and-a-half-foot Asian water monitor lizard after its owner listed for sale online.
In New York State, DEC requires a Dangerous Animal License to keep Asian water monitors along with several other species of animals.
The seller of this big guy initially listed it for sale for $1,400 but said he would negotiate down to $1,000.
The owner was ticketed for illegally selling a wild animal as a pet, a misdemeanor due to the purchase price.
The lizard was taken to a reptile facility with the required licenses for such an animal.
By the way, the Asian water monitor can grow to eight feet long and can bite with their serrated teeth.
The DEC did not say where in Sullivan County the seller lives.
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