Ontario resident fined $5,000 for unlawfully importing a protected lizard species

August 11, 2025 – St. Catharines, Ontario – Environment and Climate Change Canada

On August 7, 2025, Renee Christina Murray of London, Ontario, was fined $5,000 after pleading guilty in the St. Catharines Courthouse, Ontario Court of Justice, to one count of unlawfully importing an Asian water monitor into Canada from the United States without a permit. This is an offence under subsection 6(2) of the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA).

On September 19, 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers were notified by the Canada Border Services Agency after Murray re-entered Canada from the United States at the Peace Bridge crossing in Fort Erie with a live animal suspected to be a species protected under WAPPRIITA. Enforcement officers went to the port of entry and learned that Murray had driven to the United States earlier that day to pick up a reptile from an exotic pet breeder. Upon re-entry into Canada, Murray declared the reptile as a smaller ackie monitor, but the officers determined the lizard was an Asian water monitor.

Asian water monitors are regulated in trade globally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The species is listed by CITES as Appendix II, which means a valid export permit from the country of origin is required under WAPPRIITA for import into Canada. Asian water monitors are regulated to prevent them from being overexploited through illegal trade.

The lizard was forfeited to the Crown.

The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.

Quick facts

• The Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) is one of the world’s largest lizards. They can grow up to two metres and live up to 25 years in captivity. Their skin has been used in the fabrication of a wide range of accessories, including wallets and bags, which has made this species prone to overexploitation.
• CITES is an international agreement that Canada joined in 1975 to regulate, or in some cases prohibit, trade in specific species of wild animals and plants, as well as their respective parts and derivatives.
• CITES Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
• WAPPRIITA is the Canadian federal law through which Canada meets its obligations to regulate trade in species listed under CITES.
• Created in 1995, the Environmental Damages Fund is a Government of Canada program administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The Fund directs monies received from fines, penalties, court orders, and voluntary payments to projects that will repair environmental damage or benefit the environment. The Fund aims to invest in the areas where the environmental damage occurred.

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