1-meter lizard spotted on apartment trail in Suwon
A lizard believed to be an Asian water monitor was spotted near a Suwon apartment complex, prompting safety concerns as sightings of protected exotic animals rise in urban Korea.
A lizard measuring roughly 1 meter (3.3 feet) long is seen on a walking trail at an apartment complex in Gwanggyo’s Wellbeing Town in Suwon, Gyeonggi, earlier this month.
YONHAP
A large lizard believed to be an internationally protected species was recently spotted near an apartment complex in Gwanggyo, Suwon, Gyeonggi.
The lizard, which appeared to measure roughly 1 meter (3.3 feet) long, was seen earlier this month on a walking trail at an apartment complex in Gwanggyo’s Wellbeing Town, according to Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.
The animal is believed to be an Asian water monitor, a species listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Appendix II covers species not currently threatened with extinction but at risk of becoming so without controls on international trade. Cites Appendix I, the more serious designation, covers species already threatened with extinction.
Videos showed the lizard flicking its tongue and looking around before crossing a wooden deck and disappearing into nearby bushes. Footage of the animal has circulated since Friday in a group chat used by Wellbeing Town residents, and other residents nearby have since reported seeing what appeared to be the same lizard.
“A few days ago, I was walking near the place shown in the video in broad daylight when I saw the long tail of some animal moving through the bushes,” one resident said. “It looked very similar to the tail of the lizard in the video.”
A library sits just a few dozen meters from where the lizard was spotted, and an elementary school is about 300 meters away, raising concerns over children’s safety in the area. As of Monday, however, police and fire authorities had received no reports of a large lizard in Gwanggyo.
The sighting comes amid a series of recent cases in which Cites-listed or ecosystem-disturbing species have been found in urban areas.
A turtle measuring about 30 centimeters (12 inches) long and believed to be an ecosystem-disturbing species was found in a drainage channel at a resort in Gijang County, Busan, on Sunday.
Separately, a Siamese crocodile listed under Cites Appendix I was also found near Soyang Stream in Yeoju, Gyeonggi, on July 18. Police launched a search for its owner and, on July 26, booked a man in his 30s on suspicion of violating the Wildlife Protection and Management Act. Investigators found that the man had also kept an alligator snapping turtle, a Cites Appendix II-listed species, without government permission.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
