Vassalboro Town Forest Trail Being Extended by More Than a Mile

Yikes! Carnival Worker Passes Out Carnivorous Baby Monitor Lizards As Prizes

WINNER WINNER FINGER DINNER: A fairgoer reported that baby savannah monitor lizards were being passed off as iguanas and given as prizes at the Washington County Fair.

The Washington County Fair in Fayetteville included some exotic wildlife this year in addition to its typical farmyard friends.

Laura Undem took to Facebook Thursday to warn others after her reptile-aware child noticed something amiss. The mom said Eren Undem was at the fair Wednesday night and noticed the sign: "Win an iguana." The sign corresponded with a carnival game challenging players to throw balls into glass jars. Eren Undem was watching as a family won the game.

The vendor then stood on a five-gallon bucket to disconnect a hanging cage with two dehydrated reptiles inside, Laura Undem said. The creatures were not green like the typical iguana, but sandy and speckled.

Laura UndemNOT AN IGUANA: Lizards come in all species and sizes.

Having picked up an interest in reptile breeding during the pandemic, 21-year-old Eren Undem recognized the two reptiles as savannah monitor lizards.

The Undem family knows what they're talking about here. Their household includes a collection of pets that currently includes eight reptiles. One of them is Zephyr, a 3 1/2-year-old savannah monitor.

Worried the baby monitor lizard might not survive without the right care and diet, Eren Undem bought it from the family for $40. 

Afterward, Laura Undem said she contacted the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. She was told staff visited the fair, but she said she worried the vendor might still be out there passing off carnivorous baby monitors as mainly herbivorous iguanas.

She then reached out to fair organizers, who told her the issue was resolved, Laura Undem said.

Keith Stephens with Arkansas Game and Fish confirmed Friday that staff are monitoring the lizard situation at the Washington County Fair, but didn't go into detail. An investigation is ongoing, Stephens said.

Laura UndemPET REPTILE: Laura Undem with her pet savannah monitor lizard, Zephyr. The family's knowledge of reptiles helped identify the animal at the fair.

How many people left the fair thinking they'd won a baby iguana, when in fact they had a baby monitor lizard? Who knows? But the animals require different diets and different care.

"This is not a species we want loose in Arkansas," Laura Undem said. "I also don't want someone's child losing a finger."

The Washington County Fair did not immediately reply to questions about the vendor's identity or whether they screen prizes for safety.

The fair started Tuesday and goes through Saturday evening. 

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The Savannah monitor lizard is a medium-sized reptile native to Africa. The monitor lizard family includes the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, though the savannah type weighs in at about 13 pounds.

(If you're into animal attacks, check out the Tooth and Claw podcast episode "Monitor Lizard Attack – The Monitor Murder Mystery." It dives into the story of Ron Huff, a Delaware man who was eaten by his reptile pets in 2002.)

The animals aren't native to the United States, but the species has invaded Florida and created issues. Savannah monitor lizards are carnivores, and they often feast on small mammals, eggs, insects and fish. Their bites aren't venomous, but they can carry bacteria. They also have a strong chomp and long claws.

INVASIVE: Native to Africa, not Arkansas.

Arkansas has about a dozen native lizard species, according to the Arkansas Herpetological Society, none of which even comes close to the size of a savannah monitor. The Arkansas Herpetology Society said it's unlikely any monitor lizards could survive an Arkansas winter.

"While nothing in nature is absolute, the chances of us having a similar problem [to Florida] are slim to none," a society spokesperson said. "Damage would be limited to individual animals or maybe public panic."

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also said the species would not pose a threat due to the animal's cold intolerance.

Kudos To Winking Lizard For Phasing Out Its Mascots

Regarding Thursday's story in the Chagrin Solon Sun, kudos to Winking Lizard for phasing out the pet lizards kept in its restaurants. (Lizards will wink no more at Winking Lizard Tavern).

To quote, "they got big ... Hard to manage ... Some were wild."

How would you as an individual like to be trapped for who knows how long in a small cubicle with nothing to do? Is this really humane? Is this life, or natural?

It should have been phased out years ago, or better yet, never started.

Valerie A. Colaric,

Twinsburg

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Lies Of P Director Jiwon Choi Explains Why They Chose Pinocchio

Pinocchio does get hung by the neck in the novel, after all.

Lies of P director Jiwon Choi has addressed why his team at Round8 decided to make their game around the children's story of Pinocchio.

As reported by Windows Central, this was their reasoning behind it:

"Our goal was to create a game with a story that instantly captivated people and stayed with them long after they encountered it. To achieve this, we believed that borrowing a globally renowned tale and giving it an unexpected twist would garner attention, excitement, and interest.

We aimed to find a story that resonated with adult audiences but maintained a certain sense of wonder. The Adventures of Pinocchio presents a fascinating contrast between cruel and charming elements."

So, Round8 was certainly thinking around the same lines as those of the creators of Fables, Wicked, or even Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

They were looking for a pre-existing story that the audience would already be familiar with, and had an appeal that would connect with both adult and child audiences. Now, the stereotypical answer to that question would have been something like Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, or a Studio Ghibli movie.

But their choice of Pinocchio was particularly inspired. While most people will closely associate the children's story to the Disney animated movie, if you actually remember the original book, you can see how this works. After all, Pinocchio was literally hung from his neck by the Wolf and the Cat.

 It is also noteworthy that this is a novel from Carlos Collodi, and not an old folk tale or fairy tale. Carlos deliberately wrote his story in such a way that both children and adults would be interested in his story.

To those of you who don't remember, Pinocchio in Collodi's novel (and the Disney movie really) is actually a bad child. He makes fun of Geppetto, sells his schoolbooks, and is generally disobedient. The novel is a series of misadventures where Pinocchio keeps doing the wrong thing, and gets punished for it. It isn't until the end when he earns his redemption.

If you read that last sentence and didn't realize that this was the material Round8 looked at when they made Lies of P, then you might not quite be ready for what they have to show you.

Lies of P will be releasing on June 9, 2023, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, and Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One on Game Pass.

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