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DAILY NEWS (Bonita, Florida) 11 July 07 Big lizard blamed for devouring cat in Cape Coral (Phillip Bantz)
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.”
Spana, 45, spotted a juvenile Nile monitor crawl out of the woods near her home on 918 S.W. 12th Terrace about two weeks before she found Kitty Largo's remains last Friday morning.
“He walked right along our seawall, He looked pretty young, which concerned me because he must have parents,” she said. “We have empty lots on both sides of us that don¹t have seawalls, so they can basically come up from anywhere.”
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.
There are no documented cases of Nile monitors attacking cats, dogs or humans, said Mondgock.
“I saw the remains of a cat, but can’t actually say that I saw the lizard eat the cat. We’ve never verified anything like that,” he said. “It is a possibility.”
Monitors tend to swallow their prey whole and are extremely skittish, said Mondgock, who has only seen the lizards eating his bait chicken.
“They spook as soon as you come into the area,” he said. “We rarely get any film of these lizards.”
Thick black bands and thin yellow bands identify Nile monitors. They are often mistaken for green or brown Iguanas that feast on leafy greens, not meat.
Nile monitors also have thicker, more muscular bodies and are stronger pound-for-pound than alligators, said Mondgock.
“I’ve never wrestled an alligator, but I’ve transported a monitor while wearing gloves and they are very strong,” he said. “They’re all muscle.”
Since becoming the Cape’s official lizard trapper seven months ago, Mondgock has captured 46 monitors.
This is just a part-time job. He works full-time as an environmental technician testing water samples for the city.
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.
Mondgock is severely outnumbered.
“I’m recommending that any citizen that lives next to a canal and does not have a seawall or lives near a vacant lot without a seawall go out and purchase their own (monitor) trap,” he said.
The city once loaned traps to willing residents, but decided to end the program due to liability issues.
A monitor trap is actually two raccoon traps wired together end-to-end. The finished contraption costs about $80 and can be found at most hardware stores. Mondgock recommends using chicken backs as bait. They sell for 60 cents a pound, he said.
Monitors can be crafty and Mondgock usually ends up catching more raccoons and cats.
“You’ll catch a lot of different animals before you get a lizard,” he said.
“If you do catch one, keep your fingers out of the trap because they are aggressive when cornered.”
Many people would undoubtedly scoff at the idea of becoming a monitor wrangler.
Spana said the city’s trapping program is falling short and officials need to get tough on these lizards.
“I really think the city needs to get serious about it,” she said. “I’ve lived in Cape Coral all my life and I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t want anybody else to find their pet that way.”
Burrowing owls - the Cape’s loveable and protected mascot - are also on the monitor’s menu, which should raise some eyebrows, added Spana.
“Something needs to be done, not only for our pets, but for the burrowing owls and other native wildlife,” she said.
If the monitor population remains unchecked, the symbol of Cape Coral might become less adorable and very scaly, predicted Mondgock.
“We’re going to make the Nile monitor our new mascot for the city,” he said.
Big lizard blamed for devouring cat in Cape Coral

NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 13 July 07 Letter: Monitor your outdoor pets
Two weeks ago I saw a monitor lizard crossing the seawall in my yard, and a week later my beloved cat of 16 years was found dead and mutilated along the canal bank.
This letter has two purposes. First, I would like to encourage the City of Cape Coral to actively pursue the dangerous monitor lizard population that is rapidly growing in Cape Coral. Second, I would like to make the residents who live along the freshwater canals in the Cape aware of the threat that the monitor lizards create toward domesticated animals and to warn them to keep a close eye on their beloved pets.
Being a responsible pet owner, my cat was neutered and received his required shots yearly. He was not a nuisance in any way, and was in fact quite loved throughout the neighborhood.
He was a friend to the other wildlife that would pass through the yard, like the raccoons, possums and ducks.
I truly don't know what happened to our cat, but am fairly certain by the state that we found him in that he had been viciously attacked by something.
After talking to neighbors I found out that they have also seen monitor lizards in their backyards. One neighbor actually had to trap one himself, because the city would not help him.
Monitor lizards are dangerous carnivores that have been created by irresponsible pet owners releasing them into the wild. Their population is growing rapidly and poses a very serious threat to pets in Cape Coral.
This letter serves to put pet owners on alert, and to urge them to keep an eye on their animals.
No family should have to find their dearly loved pet in the horrific manner that we did, especially when it could have been so easily prevented.
Jessica Spana, Cape Coral
Letter: Monitor your outdoor pets