A resident in Ho Chi Minh City handed over an eight-kilogram water monitor to the Forest Protection Department on Friday, after a foreigner discovered the lizard in a swimming pool in Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City the previous day, the department said on Saturday.
Nguyen Van Hieu, a Thu Duc resident who handed over the water monitor to rangers, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he manages the customer service unit at a company in Thao Dien Ward.
A foreigner renting an apartment in the area reported finding an unknown animal in the swimming pool to a local security guard on Friday.
The guard then used a racket and a rope to catch it.
The 8kg water monitor that the Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department received from a local resident. Photo: Supplied |
Hieu later handed over the reptile to the Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department.
He expected local rangers to take care of the animal and release it back to nature.
Rangers said the lizard is a female water monitor and some 1.3 meters long.
It belongs to group IIB in the list of rare and endangered forest animals.
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