Big lizard blamed for devouring cat in Cape Coral ( Florida Wildlife Imported from Egypt ? )

naples Daily News ^ | July 11, 2007 | PHILLIP BANTZ

[george76]

After a night of desperate searching, a woman discovered the mutilated remains of her beloved cat on the muddy bank of a canal near her Cape Coral home. She believes a large, ravenous and invasive lizard committed the heinous act.

A now infamous name among Cape households, Nile monitors are cold- blooded predators introduced into the city sometime before 1990. These reptiles, which grow to a length of 7 feet, have proliferated, devouring just about everything in their path, including small mammals, snakes, shellfish, eggs and even juvenile alligators.

It was a Nile monitor that may have eaten Suzanne Spana's 16-year-old cat,”Kitty Largo.”

“We just found his paws and a little bit of his coat and some of his tail,” said Spana. “He was gone. There was nothing left of him.”

The city of Cape Coral’s only Nile monitor trapper, Robert Mondgock, answered Spana's distressed call after the incident and laid a trap baited with chicken parts Sunday on the canal bank where Kitty Largo died.

He found another cat’s collar near the kill site.

“I was thinking this was an isolated incident, but when he came back with another collar it just broke my heart,” said Spana.

Thousands of monitors live in burrows along the 400 miles of canals in the Cape, though an official population estimate does not exist. The lizards reproduce quickly: Females lay 60 to 80 eggs in a clutch every year.

[darkwing104]

Bring in a couple of 10 Foot Gators to clean up the Lizard Population...

[bert]

Suzanne is a dumb as Cindy Sheehan. She let her cat run wild near a canal and expects it to live?

The cat was probably stalking the lizard and got eaten instead of eating.

[lormand]

[george76]

[GoldCountryRedneck]

Bad news for pets...

[Lurker]

Why use chicken parts if they're eating local cats? Shouldn't he be baiting with cat parts?

Just kidding...

L

[george76]

”Kitty Largo.”

[Ancient Drive]

ah the irony! a cat eaten by a lizard!

[kevkrom]

Florida Wildlife Imported from Egypt

Undocumented reptiles, just doing the jobs American lizards won't do.

[Slings and Arrows]

a Nile Monitor

...and the question is "What does an Egyptian use to view his computer's output?"

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Put a bounty on the damn things.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

Put a bounty on the damn things.

Entirely too sensible.

Fish & Game would decry the diversion of funds, PETA would scream of the cruelty, etc.,etc., ad nausum...

[SWAMPSNIPER]

If they were up in this part of Florida a lot of new recipes would be invented. I can’t grasp anyone seeing one in the backyard, and not having a .22 ready. Something is wrong with those people down there!

[pcottraux]

Okay, this is obviously al-Q'aida-led payback for the killer British badgers terrorizing Iraq.

[ExSoldier]

can’t grasp anyone seeing one in the backyard, and not having a .22 ready.

I don't think a .22 would do the job. Reminds me of the famous MONGO quote from Blazing Saddles: Don't shoot him! You'll only make him mad.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Yeah,.22 in the auditory membrane, and the damn thing may bounce around for a while, but it won’t go far. Trust me, LOL!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

( Florida Wildlife Imported from Egypt ? )

Are you talking about the cat or the Nile lizard? Both originally come from Egypt.

[SunkenCiv]

I think she rubbed out the cat for the insurance money, and is trying to frame this supposed lizard.

[george76]

LOL.

This is the best line that I have heard all day.