Monitor Lizard Sightings Set Off ‘Crocodile’ Alarms in Flooded Central Jakarta

Jakarta Globe

Jakarta residents were shaken on Thursday by sightings of large monitor lizards and pythons moving through the floodwaters in Central Jakarta, local media reported.
 
A startled motorcyclist shouted “crocodile, crocodile, there’s a crocodile in the water,” after seeing a large lizard in the murky waters on Jalan MH Thamrin, near Sarinah in Central Jakarta, according to Sindonews.com.

A group of men chased after the lizard while others fled the scene. They were able to grab the beast by its tail and beat it with sticks before someone noticed it was a monitor lizard, not a crocodile. 

The lizard was allegedly one-meter long.

A woman in Menteng later tweeted a photo of another monitor lizard, writing: “There’s a crocodile stranded in the yard of my friend’s house in Jalan Sumenep, Menteng” on her @bonitawisnuw Twitter account.

In Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, residents captured a two-meter-long python found swimming through the floodwaters, according to Detik.com. Rizki, a local resident, told a reporter from the Indonesian news portal that the snake was placed in a cage.

Animal rights activists with the Jakarta Animal Aid Network were scanning the city for animals who may have washed up in the floods. JAAN told Detik.com they would try to transport the animals to safety.