I wanted to give it to my wife: how did a lizard from the zoo fall from the 12th floor?

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For the Petrogradsky district of St. Petersburg, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia detained a man who stole a rare lizard, acanthosaurus, from the Leningrad Zoo. It turned out to be a 32-year-old native of the Tula region, which already has problems with the law.

The reptile disappeared from the exotarium on Friday, August 12. According to law enforcement, “the attacker damaged the glass terrarium’s lock.”

A CCTV footage released by Life shows a man in jeans approaching the terrarium and examining the reptile. He called a friend – a woman in a white T-shirt, jeans and a black bag. Thereupon, the man quickly took the lizard out of the enclosure and threw it into his friend’s bag.

Zoo staff noticed the loss two days later and immediately contacted the police.

“August 16, close to midnight, in the 11th house on Narodnaya Street, a 32-year-old man, previously convicted from the Tula region, was detained. The issue of initiating a criminal case is resolved, ”says St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region Vkontakte.

It was recorded that the attacker was drunk at the time of the theft and would give the animal to his wife. Police found the reptile dead under the windows of the prisoner’s apartment. As the man said, the lizard fell dead from the 12th floor window.

“It’s hard for us to lose any animal because we love and take care of all our animals,” the zoo said.

The press service of the zoo told socialbites.ca that they are conducting an inspection and will try to prevent such incidents from happening.

“We don’t understand the criminals’ motives. This lizard is not often found in terrariums, but can be purchased legally if desired. It is better to leave the grounds to law enforcement,” he said.

At the same time, the zoo has not yet thought about buying new lizards. “As an exhibition appearance, it was really quite bright, it looked like a dragon,” the institution said in a statement to the portal 78.ru, estimating the damage at 21 thousand rubles.

Acanthosaurs are lizards from the Agamidae family. Their natural habitat is Southeast Asia. The body length of the lizard averages from 24 to 30 cm. The body is slightly compressed from the sides, covered with small scales, and has a high back on the head and back. In some species of these reptiles, the crests consist entirely of spines.

Located between the Sportivnaya and Gorkovskaya metro stations, the Leningrad zoo has existed since 1865 – on August 14, the zoo turned 157 years old. This is one of the oldest zoos in Russia and the northernmost in the world. The first major animal collection included tigers, bears, lionesses, small predators, waterfowl, and parrots.

The zoo did not stop working during the blockade. Zoo workers were able to save some of the animal collection and gave visiting lessons. In memory of this, the zoo is still called Leningradsky, and a memorial plaque is placed at the entrance.

Now the zoo has several pavilions, including a two-story exotarium. There is an aquarium on the first floor, a terrarium on the second floor, a cafe, an exhibit of insects and enclosures with mongooses, meerkats, phoenixes, armadillos and hedgehogs.

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