The enclosure is not completely closed because a monitor lizard takes flight in the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven. The exhibition house closes temporarily. Despite the search, there is no trace of the animal.
Bremerhaven – An escaped monitor lizard in the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven continued to disappear on Sunday. Nevertheless, visitors were able to explore the exhibition in the Klimahaus again.
“We have made sure that the animal does not pose a threat to visitors,” said Klimahaus spokesman Holger Bockholt on Sunday morning. Accordingly, the monitor lizard is not aggressive and is probably hiding in a corner or crevice. In addition, the prospect of accidentally encountering the volatile monitor lizard in the very large building of the Klimahaus is very slim. “If at all, the animal comes out at night,” explained Bockholt.
The almost fully grown Nile monitor had probably escaped on Friday morning when the enclosure was not completely closed due to a technical malfunction. When the zookeepers did their inspection and feeding round, they discovered that the monitor lizard was missing – it was alone in its enclosure. A short time later the house was temporarily closed to visitors.
When searching for the reptile, the employees used gloves and tools. For example, the animal could be caught with a net, said Bockholt. According to this, the 80 centimeter long scale reptile is naturally very good at hiding. Monitor lizards are very shy animals. In addition, the building is very large, with the exhibition alone covering 11,500 square meters.
The hope is that the animal will get hungry at some point and will be attracted by the baits laid out at night. A monitor lizard could easily do without food for two weeks, said the spokesman. It could be dangerous for the animal if, for example, it falls down somewhere.
In the Klimahaus, those interested can take a trip along the eighth degree of longitude east – through different climate zones. The escaped monitor lizard lives in the travel station Cameroon. The aim of the house is to interest people in the topic of climate and to show how fascinating and worth protecting the earth is. dpa
