SPCA offers reward in abandonment of Savannah monitor lizard in Patchogue

A reward of $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who abandoned of a "docile" Savannah monitor lizard on a street in Patchogue, the Suffolk County SPCA said Friday.

The agency said it was found Thursday by a passerby, who put in a cat carrier.

While it fit in the carrier when it was found on Rider Avenue just north of Baker Street, it would eventually "grow large enough to enjoy a piece of an entire room," the SPCA said in a statement.

It is illegal to possess the lizards without a state permit, but the Savannah monitor is popular because of its "docile disposition," the statement said.

The group said it is sponsoring an Amnesty Day on Oct. 10 at the Holtsville Ecology Site with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Town of Brookhaven at which owners of illegal reptiles and mammals can drop them off without penalty.