DAILY NEWS (Los Angeles, California) 06 July 06 Iguana be free: Cop captures loose reptile (Susan Abram)
San Fernando: Officer Todd Orsini has a new title - Crocodile Hunter - after wrestling with a 3-foot iguana that made a break for freedom on July Fourth.
Orsini, who spends most workdays on motorcycle patrol, found himself called on to capture the reptile after it scurried out of someone's home, up an alley, into a backyard, then up into a leafy 14-foot tree as scared residents shrieked below.
"It was the strangest call," Orsini recalled Wednesday. "I was up an 8-foot ladder, and it was up even higher. We had to knock it down. Then it got away from us and into a backyard."
Police said they don't know who owns the hulking reptile, which was captured and taken to the Castaic animal shelter for evaluation.
Orsini said it had looked ill, one of its cheeks puffy with cysts and part of its long tail lopped off, a sign of neglect.
"We're having a veterinarian look at the iguana," said Brenda Sanchez, spokeswoman with Los Angeles County Animal Control.
Orsini has always been the first to volunteer when the San Fernando Police Department gets a call to rescue a pet snake or other slithery creature, but said his colleagues are calling him "Crocodile Hunter" after his latest escapade.
"I love reptiles," he said. "I used to have all kinds when I was little."
Iguana be free: Cop captures loose reptile