Reptile enters Angola’s Ministry of Interior premises, causing panic among delegates

As first appeared in Epito in Angola, here. Written by Gaspar Jindanji.

December 12 2022

First thought to be an alligator, the monitor lizard was safely released back to its habitat 

Firefighters arrived on the scene and safely transported the lizard back to the river. Image by Gaspar Jindanji.

A lizard of the Varanus species, also known as Monitor lizard, caused panic during Angola’s Ministry of Interior (MININT) Delegation in Cuando Cubango in the early afternoon of Tuesday, December 6, 2022, when employees of the public institution saw the reptile enter their grounds.

At first glance, the employees thought it was a baby alligator or crocodile, but the speed of its movements made it difficult to ascertain. The monitor lizard first entered the guardhouse and then moved into one of the barracks and settled behind the lockers.

The employees called firefighters who, with some skill and with the help of the hook and a rope, managed to immobilise the lizard who, in his retreat to the backyard of the institution, tried to escape from the rope, causing panic again.

After being captured, the animal was taken to the Municipal Fire Department, and the Directorate notified the provincial environment directorate, which, in turn, allowed the firefighters to return the animal to its habitat on the banks of the Cuebe River.

Albano Cutarica, Spokesperson for the Civil Protection and Fire Services said that the animal walked onto the grounds because the MININT facilities border the Cuebe River from the rear. He added that this was the second time that a lizard of that species appeared in that locality. In March 2022, the Civil Protection and Fire Service (SPCB) also intervened in an invasion of another lizard of the same family. 

Asked about the danger of the reptile, Albano Cutarica assured that there are no records of attacks by these lizards on humans, but that it is never too much to play on the safe side.

Two hours later, the Lizard was released into the undergrowth surrounding the area where the riverside project in the capital of Cuando Cubango would be built, in an act assisted by the Municipal Commander of Firefighters, journalists and local people who were bathing in the river. The latter, when they saw the lizard being released, stated that the animal would be a “Good Conduct”.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organisation Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.