Pedestrians beware: lizards of Bangkok rounded up at their city centre stomping ground

The hulking, prehistoric-looking monitor lizards that stalk the grounds of Bangkok’s Lumpini park have long triggered fascination – and fear – from visitors to the city centre’s main green space.

But with their population soaring out of control to some 400, city officials are on a mission to bait and bag some of the meaty reptiles known as “hia” – a noun which doubles as the most powerful swear word in Thai.

“In the past hia used to steal people’s food, so that’s why people cursed them,” explained 49-year-old Tawee Somnamee, who works in the 57-hectare park, a lush oasis for joggers and cyclists in the heart of Bangkok’s concrete jungle.

He is one of twelve park staff who set out on Tuesday with makeshift fishing poles, rope and sacks to lure the reptiles from the ponds and canals where they lurk.

In recent years the largest of the Lumpini leviathans – measuring up to three metres in length – have taken to tromping around the park, damaging plants and frightening passers-by.

“They walk around and don’t know that people are scared of them,” said Suwanna Jungrungrueng, director of the city’s environment department. “It’s time for us to control them.”