DAILY STAR (Beirut, Lebanon) 27 August 03 Mtayleb’s ‘Godzilla’ still evades capture - Civil Defense camps out awaiting appearance of large carnivorous lizard (Nada Raad)
If you are still wondering whether the Rabieh lizard has been caught, well, not yet. The Civil Defense personnel are still looking for the reptile, which has been identified as a Komodo Dragon, the world’s largest lizard.
After two weeks of continuous searches, Lebanon’s “Godzilla” is still touring the environs of Mtayleb.
Chehab Raai, the head of the emergency department at Jdeideh’s Civil Defense, told The Daily Star that two days ago, the lizard ate two cats in Mtayleb, leaving behind mere skins and bones.
“We sent one of the cat’s bones to the American University Medical Center’s (AUMC) laboratories as it holds marks of the animal’s teeth,” he added.
But the Civil Defense’s attempts to make sure the marks left on the stones matched those of the supposed Komodo Dragon did not succeed.
Raai said: “The tests could not be undertaken, as AUMC’s laboratories are not equipped to meet such sophisticated tests.”
He added that the samples were then taken to doctor Mansour Kassab, who asserted the marks belongs to a “reptile.” Chehab said that if the animal is a carnivorous reptile, “it could not be but the Komodo Dragon, as it is the only meat-eating reptile.”
However, according to many websites, there is another type of lizard that is carnivorous and somewhat similar to the Komodo Dragon: the monitor lizard.
According to Todd Campbell, a University of Tampa assistant professor of biology who has started a project to study the monitor lizards, “they can eat oysters, armadillos, foxes, ground doves, reptiles and amphibians.”
Currently around a dozen Civil Defense personnel are “camping” in Mtayleb’s forest, equipped with cameras and weapons. When The Daily Star visited the site, they were preparing grilled chicken heads to attract the lizard, which according to a Civil Defense volunteer, “is certainly hiding in the surroundings.”
Raai said that “our main concern now is to take a picture of the lizard and then, accordingly, we will find a way of catching it.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/27_08_03/art21.asp
TERRANET (Beirut, Lebanon) 22 August 03 Giant Lizard said to have swum in resident’s pool - Komodo Dragon sightings cause panic in Mtayleb
More than 100 personnel from the Civil Defense and the Internal Security Forces have unsuccessfully been stationed in Mtayleb and the surrounding area to catch a giant, carnivorous lizard.
The issue is considered to have become potentially dangerous as the reptile, believed to be a Komodo Dragon, supposedly ate a horse five days ago, according to locals.
Chehab Raai, head of the emergency department at Jdeideh’s Civil Defense, told The Daily Star that two weeks ago a horse died in a riding club in Mtayleb. “After the horse was buried,” he said, “the lizard dug it up and ate it.”
Katheline Battah, a resident in Mtayleb, told The Daily Star that a month ago her favorite cat suddenly disappeared. “I tried to find it again, but could not even trace its body,” she said.
The Civil Defense department is using all means at its disposal to catch the reptile, which was first noticed by residents two weeks ago, but is finding it difficult to locate the beast. “Some of our personnel are armed, while others are riding horses to move more quickly to catch the animal,” he said.
The lizard, believed by the Civil Defense to be a Komodo Dragon, is causing panic in the area, particularly once it was learned that the reptile is the world’s largest land-based lizard and a meat-eating monster. The reptile will also devour any animal it can dismember.
Battah said she believed that the animal was first observed by a Sudanese concierge in Mtayleb three months ago. “When the concierge told residents about a huge grey lizard he saw, nobody believed him and said he was crazy,” she said.
Raai said the lizard left the burrow where it lived 10 days ago, and is now touring Mtayleb.
The Komodo Dragon, not native to Lebanon, is usually found on the islands of Indonesia, and it is believed that the reptile was brought to Lebanon four years ago by a German who lived in the area.
As a water lover, the reptile on Tuesday supposedly went to a residential villa and swam in the pool.
“The family of Fawzi Ashqar, owner of the residence, was scared,” Raai said. “The lizard left traces from his quarry, a fox.” The Komodo Dragon entered the villa, ate a fox and then returned to the forest. Although Civil Defense personnel spent the night searching for the lizard, they were unable to catch it.
Raai said the current plan to catch the reptile is not going to work. “With more than 100 personnel stationed in the forest, the lizard will feel threatened and never appear,” Raai said. He went on to say that better equipment is needed, such as remote-controlled cages and professional traps, along with cameras to monitor the location 24 hours a day.
“Each cage costs around $20,000, while traps are more expensive,” said Raai, adding that the department was in financial dire straits and unable to acquire the right equipment.
Raai will contact embassies here to ask for help in handling the issue. “We also contacted the Discovery Channel,” he said. “If we are able to send a photo of the animal to prove it is a Komodo Dragon, the Discovery Channel confirmed it will send a team to resolve the issue,” he added.
While some are scared of the Komodo Dragon, others assert that no such animal could be found here. On Wednesday, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted experts denying the possible existence of such a reptile here.
But, according to Raai, three residents have so far confirmed that they had seen the lizard and later identified it as being a Komodo Dragon.
The giant lizard is believed to be occupying the area from Antelias to Diq al-Mehdi. Raai hoped that the reptile would be caught before heading to areas such as Nahr al-Kalb, where it can easily hide.
http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=102222&ChannelId=49
