The luckiest lizard in the whole wide world
By Coconuts Bangkok


Photo credit: Facebook User Jira Niyom

THAILAND -- Social media is swooning over photos and a story posted by Facebook user Jira Niyom, a Silpakorn University student, according to his Facebook. He posted several photos of a group of people who got together to save a severely injured monitor lizard that was hit by a car in Bangkok.

The monitor lizard, or ‘Hia’ as it is known in Thailand, is a creature that is locally reviled. However, social media users praised rescuers for putting aside their beliefs about the lizard’s ickiness and helping to ensure that the creature recovered, reported Bangkok Post

The rescuers, with assistance from officials, helped get the lizard to Thonglor Pet Hospital and paid for its treatment. Before that, the lizard was photographed lying on the street with a streak of blood next to it after being hit by a car.

Full Story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/06/28/luckiest-lizard-whole-wide-world


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2016-06-28

All's well that ends well then.

Good kind hearted story but not to sure it made a full recovery or ended up in the pot ! doesn't look to healthy to me from my observations.

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

"... The rescuers, with assistance from officials, helped get the lizard to Thonglor Pet Hospital and paid for its treatment ...". Good on them!

With all the television coverage this story received this afternoon, I'm surprised the RTP are not treating this as a hit-and-run, and making every effort to track down the driver.

All the best to the lizard, hope he doesn't end up as someone's handbag.

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

Edited June 28, 201610 yr by Wilsonandson

We have a troop of monkies about 5 mi s from the house. This poor mother has been carrying this wee guy a few days now. Really sad to see. I feed the monkies most days.

It looks like this is a first time mother. I read a few things on this. One train of thought is the mother doesn't know the wee guy is dead. The other is obviously the emotional attachment.

Edited June 28, 201610 yr by Franky Bear

Straight to the 'Pride of Thailand' database for this one!

The luckiest lizard in the whole world........

Mmmm....... I am not sure about that..........

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

He forgot to say Khwai deng to the taxi driver. with a wai.

The luckiest lizard in the whole world........

Mmmm....... I am not sure about that..........

No. Its in Dubai and its luck is running out!!

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

u sound like my mother-in-law who cannot lighten up and take a joke.

ขอบคุณมากแต่ไม่ต้องห่วงนะ ผมแค่พูดเล่นเฉยๆจ๊ะ

Good thing! Animals don't know if they are sweet and cute or ugly and frightening. Some species are cuddled all the time, some are thrown away. Some are slaugthered because their meat tastes good or are used in animal experiences, and some pets are hugged by the kids in the house. Snakes are killed because of their skin, crocodiles are farmed in concrete-boxes because of their leather. But at the end- they are all creatures. Only WE treat them differend because they are fluffy species or look disgusting. But they all have a brain and are able to suffer and to feel pain- no matter what they are called, how the behave or what they are useful for as production animals.

P.S. sorry for my bad english. Learned it for 5 years only....

The luckiest lizard in the whole world........

Mmmm....... I am not sure about that..........

Yes, the only lizards that are luckier are those that haven't been hit by a car...

Edited June 28, 201610 yr by lamyai3

What a fine monitor , was it picking up flags before it got hit ?

Being kind to an individual animal is not the same as respecting wildlife, conservation and the environment.......actually all it tends to do is make a few people think they've done enough.

Luckiest lizard in the world?

I'd say those not run over in the first place may consider themselves luckier.

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

Yes, you might get in trouble calling a Thai 'hia', but you'd also have problems if you called him 'kwai' (water buffalo). Lots of westerners wouldn't be pleased being called a dog, snake, or rat, but that doesn't mean the word is not appropriately applied to certain animals. My gf says 'hia' is a legit word for the lizard, and she's backed up by thai-language.com, even if grathong is more common these days. [she explained that hia used to be more common, and now grathong is being supplanted by yet another term]

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

Yes, you might get in trouble calling a Thai 'hia', but you'd also have problems if you called him 'kwai' (water buffalo). Lots of westerners wouldn't be pleased being called a dog, snake, or rat, but that doesn't mean the word is not appropriately applied to certain animals. My gf says 'hia' is a legit word for the lizard, and she's backed up by thai-language.com, even if grathong is more common these days. [she explained that hia used to be more common, and now grathong is being supplanted by yet another term]

I-Heer I am glad you r well n alive

stay healthy na ja I-Heer

As this poster suggests you will get into deep trouble if you say this word to a Thai. The word is on the same level as calling someone a 'c u next tuesday'.

A monitor lizard is called in Thai language 'Gra-thong'. Never say heer. Why did coconuts post this? This is very bad language.

Do not learn bad Thai language.

One day, many years back I remember going home in a taxi. The taxi driver beeped his horn at a man blocking the road. The man shouted 'buffalo' at the taxi driver.

The taxi driver got out and a full on fight to the death took place between the two in the middle of the street. The other guy was losing and ran off. I was still sat in the back of the taxi, quite scared and amazed. The taxi-driver got back in and carried on to my destination.

After that experience and a few others I stay well away from learning bad words in Thai. Say it to the wrong person and you could end up in hospital or worse!

Yes, you might get in trouble calling a Thai 'hia', but you'd also have problems if you called him 'kwai' (water buffalo). Lots of westerners wouldn't be pleased being called a dog, snake, or rat, but that doesn't mean the word is not appropriately applied to certain animals. My gf says 'hia' is a legit word for the lizard, and she's backed up by thai-language.com, even if grathong is more common these days. [she explained that hia used to be more common, and now grathong is being supplanted by yet another term]

You heard it hia first.

We have a troop of monkies about 5 mi s from the house. This poor mother has been carrying this wee guy a few days now. Really sad to see. I feed the monkies most days.

It looks like this is a first time mother. I read a few things on this. One train of thought is the mother doesn't know the wee guy is dead. The other is obviously the emotional attachment.

Once when I was in Nepal, I was visiting Swayambunath. There was a momma monkey there who had been carrying around her dead baby so long it had become mummified. Sad to see.