Overview

• Goose was captured on August 2 after evading authorities across Massachusetts and Connecticut for more than two weeks.
• Webster Police Department, Massachusetts Environmental Police and local law enforcement agencies coordinated the multiagency search effort.
• Officials advised the public not to approach the five-foot reptile and to report sightings only to animal control or police for safe handling.
• The water monitor will be transferred to RRS Oasis, a Rainforest Reptile Shows nonprofit sanctuary, where it will live in a custom habitat with expert care.
• Investigators have opened a probe into Goose’s unauthorized possession under state laws that ban private ownership of water monitor lizards without a permit.