The Bangkok Metroplitan Administration has no objection to a plan of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to hold an exhibition of monitor lizards in the Lumpini park so that members of the public can get to know the reptiles better.
Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwangmuang said Monday that the City Hall agreed with the proposal for the two organizations to conduct a census of the population of the monitor lizards in Lumpini Park as the two of them have different estimates of the numbers of the reptiles, with the parks department saying there are about 160 while the City Hall believing there are about 400. But whatever the numbers, monitor lizards have been a common sight at the city’s biggest public park for years.
While insisting that the city administration has no problem with the planned holding of an exhibition about monitor lizards in the park, the governor said he was not sure that the public would accept the idea because there are people who despise the reptiles. Many Thais still have a belief that monitor lizards or “hia” represent bad luck.
However, he suggested that the public should be allowed to provide their feedback about the planned exhibition.
He insisted that the parks department should be responsible for catching the reptiles while the City Hall has the duty to prevent them from harming or scaring park visitors.
