Crime & Safety

Spicer Hill Road Man Charged in Connection with Lizard on the Loose

Police shot and killed the lizard on Aug. 25 after it was found attacking chickens in a Shewville Road chicken coop.

A Spicer Hill Road man was arrested Wednesday and charged with possession of an illegal reptile in connection with a months-long string of lizard sightings around town.

Anthony String, 36, of 128 Spicer Hill Road, was arrested by Ledyard police and issued a summons to appear in New London Superior Court on Sept. 25.

The lizard in question, a "several-foot-long" Nile Monitor Lizard, according to police, had been spotted around town several times since the spring. On Sunday, Aug. 25, the Ledyard Emergency Communications Center got a call from a woman who lives on Shewville Road who believed there was an "alligator" in her chicken coop on her property. Officers and the Ledyard Animal Control Officer responded to the scene and found the lizard attacking chickens.

Officers, "due to the further risk to livestock, domestic animals and human life … were forced to use a firearm to mitigate the threat," according to a release issued that day.

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