Casey Brose took a deep breath and shared a hard-earned high five with Alex Roszkowski after the duo completed a harrowing rescue mission: plucking a four-foot lizard out of a storm drain on Phoenix's Loop 101 during rush hour.
The 15-pound Nile monitor, named Archie, had escaped its backyard enclosure weeks prior, Arizona's Family reported. He spent weeks on the lam and was spotted by a hiker at one point; the end of the road came after he ventured onto the highway about 1.5 miles from his residence.
Owner Seth Vancura told 12 News in Arizona he "was just like a worried parent" after the creature popped up on a TV news traffic alert early one July morning. It took almost two hours for the Phoenix Herpetological Society to arrive on the scene and wrangle the reptile, leaving him feeling helpless.
The organization is dedicated to promoting the conservation and preservation of reptiles and rescues, rehabilitates, and relocates the animals. It says it all starts with education.
"Our desert (and our planet) is in serious jeopardy. It is imperative to teach our youth the importance each animal plays in our eco-system," PHS states on its website. "Last year the PHS outreach program touched 250,000 people. These were primarily school-aged children and teenagers."
The rescue was difficult because of traffic and extreme heat, Arizona's Family reported, and Brose had to recapture Archie after he briefly wriggled free. He got the monitor in a container, though, and you could see Brose's relief after the hard part was complete.
"This one's a first," Roszkowski told Arizona's Family. "I've never had to go out on the highway or the freeway to grab any sort of lizard like that."
Vancura told the station it was "a huge surprise" that Archie ended up there since he loves to climb trees. It was, however, a happy ending to a long ordeal.
"The second I realized he was gone, I didn't even know exactly what to do," Vancura said. "How do you find a lizard?"
Archie, of course, got a bath and a special meal upon his return home. And Vancura said he would secure the animal's cage.
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