Editor’s note: This story has been updated at 6:25 p.m. on Aug. 4 to clarify the type of citation the owner will face.
On Aug. 2, Capt. Scott Amati of the Massachusetts Environmental Police spent his afternoon in Douglas with some hard-boiled eggs and pieces of chicken.
The food, however, was not for a picnic. The food was used for capturing a water monitor lizard named Goose, who had escaped its home in Webster on July 18.
A search was launched for the runaway 4-foot reptile, which had been spotted in both Massachusetts and Connecticut. The search officially ended on Saturday, with Amati and others catching the lizard, who was hiding in a hole near Southwest Main Street.
Amati, along with members of the Webster Police Department, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the nonprofit animal sanctuary, Rainforest Reptile Shows‘ Oasis Foundation, held a press conference on Monday about the lizard’s capture and its current condition.
The lizard itself made an appearance at the press conference that afternoon, being held by one of the Rainforest Reptile Shows employees.
At first, Goose squirmed in the person’s hands but it soon calmed down and was very still as it looked at members of the press.
“Very strong animal for its size,” Amati said. “Fairly well behaved all things considered.”
Goose was first spotted in Douglas on Saturday afternoon by Zachary Poidras and Ethan Prario — two employees for the DCR.
The two were on the lookout for Goose but neither expected to see the lizard that afternoon.
When Poidras saw the lizard on Southwest Main Street, he thought it was a tire.
“He was walking up and I actually saw the tail,” he said.
The two contacted Amati and the Environmental Police and the Department of Conservation and Recreation began searching the area.
Soon, they found Goose hiding in a hole in the area away from the street.
At first, Amati tried to use hard-boiled eggs to lure Goose out, but that didn’t work.
He then tried luring it with pieces of chicken, a snack Goose found much more appetizing. After Goose stuck his head out of the hole, he was snared with a catch pole, according to Amati.
The lizard put up a fight but he was placed into a container, Amati said.
Footage of the capture will be released by the Webster Police Department later on Monday, according to Amati.
Following his capture, Goose will have a health checkup before he returns to his new home at the Oasis Foundation.
Goose’s owner, whom Amati did not name, will face a non-criminal citation for illegally owning the lizard. Goose originally had an owner from New Hampshire before coming to Massachusetts, Amati said.
Even though the search for Goose has drawn to an end, Chief of Police Michael Shaw said he was a little sad to see the lizard leave.
“He’s kind of our unofficial mascot of Webster,” Shaw said to laughs.
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