A 5-foot-long Nile Monitor Lizard was reported missing from its enclosure on S. East St. in Joseph Sunday by Wendy Bliss.
   According to a Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office police report , the creature is “not friendly and can eat small critters” and it needs to be found or it may die of  the cold. It was described as gray with  donut shaped spots.
    “His name is Fred,” said Wendy Bliss Tuesday. She said the lizard was purchased when it was only seven inches long by her husband, Bill,  from a now defunct pet store in Enterprise nine  years ago. “He’s part of our family.”

   Bliss said they are concerned that someone might see it and try to kill it because it looks like an alligator. She admits it’s not exactly a friendly animal, because it is after all a carnivore.
   The door to Fred’s outdoor pen, which includes a dog house with a heat lamp where he sleeps, was found left open Sunday evening and the lizard was gone. He could be hiding under something where it’s warm, or near a pond or even  the river because it is a water creature. Nile Monitor Lizards are natives of Madagascar.

(Photo: Nile Monitor lizards grow to seven feet in length.  One dined on its owner in Delaware a year ago last January. An autopsy determined that the man was dead before the lizard ate him.)

   “He’s huge,” said Bliss of Fred. She said he weighed in about two weeks ago at 43 pounds, measuring five feet from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tale.  Bliss said that she and husband Bill form the reptile rescue squad of Wallowa County, often taking in cold-blooded pets of all kinds abandoned or unwanted by others. Their menagerie includes pythons, boa constrictors, four iguanas and “a little Fred, named Barney.” They enjoy showing off their pets for educational purposes.
    “We’re the icky wing of the humane society,” said Bliss. “People call us ‘Lizard Bliss’.”

   The Blisses also have a rat “farm,” raising rodents not only to feed those of  their reptiles that are carnivorous, but also supplying the local pet store and other reptile owners.  Right now they are very worried about the idea of Fred running loose in the cold, cruel world. They are especially worried about the weather turning cold and him dying of exposure.
   “We’re willing to offer a reward,” said Wendy Bliss about the unusual pet. “If anyone sees him, don’t touch him, just call us (432-6707) or the sheriff’s office (426-3131).” 

© 2003 Wallowa  County Chieftain