Monitor lizard messes up preschool garden after wandering into HDB estate near Singapore's last kampung

While you wouldn't bat an eyelid over common house geckos on the walls of car parks, even the most hardened of us would get a shock should we stumble upon a massive monitor lizard lurking at a staircase landing. 

Which was exactly what one resident of the Buangkok Edgeview HDB estate encountered on Tuesday (Oct 13) afternoon. 

Abdullah Muhammad alerted his neighbours in the estate’s Facebook group page to the unexpected sight at 997 Buangkok Crescent, a multi-storey car park. 

As it is a newly-established Build-To-Order estate located next to Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the resident believed that the colossal reptile had escaped from its habitat near Singapore’s only surviving traditional village. Though it was also likely that it might have just gotten lost after wandering off from the North Eastern Riverine Loop canal nearby. 

Prior to making its way to the car park, the monitor lizard was seen rambling in front of My First Skool at Buangkok Edgeview, making a mess of the preschool’s garden in the process.

In a subsequent update to his post, Abdullah uploaded a video of a rescue operation conducted by wildlife rescue group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), which saw volunteers and police officers easing the frightened reptile into a cage before carting it away. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/585363943/videos/pcb.4549841668423656/10158978165513944[/embed]

AsiaOne understands that the National Parks Board (NParks) had been alerted to the case and referred it to ACRES to conduct the extraction. According to How Choon Beng, NParks’ Director of Wildlife Management and Outreach, the monitor lizard has since been relocated to a forested area. He added that monitor lizards play an important role in Singapore’s ecology by controlling the population of prey such as insects, crabs, snakes and fish. 

“The animal in the photos and videos is a water monitor lizard. They are commonly found in Singapore, especially close to green spaces and water bodies like canals,” Kalai Vanan, Deputy Chief Executive of ACRES, told AsiaOne. 

NParks advises members of the public not to touch, chase, corner or capture the critters when encountering them in the wild as they may attack in defence.

“If you encounter a monitor lizard, do leave it alone and observe from a distance,” How told AsiaOne, advising people to call NParks Animal Response Centre at 1800-476-1600 for assistance instead. 

“These animals are shy and will not attack humans unless provoked or cornered.”

ilyas@asiaone.com