George Rau Jr. brought 10 Wall Lizards from Lake Garda, Italy, to Cincinnati in 1951, and 70 years later, the city has an ever-growing population
Thousands of common wall lizards, known as Lazarus lizards, are roaming around the Cincinnati streets — and now they’re getting bigger in size!
Although the common wall lizards are “permanent residents” — declared by the Ohio Division of Wildlife — in the city, they aren’t native to the U.S. They’re an invasive species native to Italy.
In 1951, a then-10-year-old George Rau Jr. and his stepfather, Fred Lazarus Jr. (founder of the Lazarus retail store, later rebranded to Macy’s), smuggled 10 Italian lizards from a family trip to Lake Garda. Once back in Ohio, he set the lizards loose in his backyard. In 1989, Rau Jr. confirmed the truth of the local story to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and The Cincinnati Enquirer …