Trying to fulfil a child’s request for a pet lizard proved costly for a woman convicted of illegally importing an Asian water monitor into Canada at a Niagara border crossing.

Renee Murray was fined $5,000 after she pleaded guilty in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Thursday to a charge of unlawful importation of a live animal

Court heard the London, Ont., woman drove across the Peace Bridge to Fort Erie in September 2024 and was referred to secondary inspection by Canada Border Services Agency officers.

Inside the vehicle, officers found a cardboard box containing a live eight-week-old Asian water monitor.

She told border agents she had purchased the reptile for US$1,450 from a business in Virginia.

An investigation determined Murray had picked up the box at a shipping cent

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