Fallsnewspress.com - Lost lizard lands in classroom, reunited with owner

RPC Photo / Steve Wiandt Lona Ferraro of Cuyahoga Falls holds her pet iguana, Plato, in her home on Third Street. Pluto survived a fall from a two-story window, and two weeks outside before being rescued from a tree and taken to a nearby school where he lived before being reunited with his owner.

RPC Photo / Steve Wiandt Pluto, an iguana owned by Lona Ferraro of Cuyahoga Falls, was returned to his cage Sept. 29 after being gone a month.

by Steve Wiandt

Reporter

Cuyahoga Falls -- An iguana named Pluto had quite an adventure after falling out of a second-story window, being rescued from a tree, and living in a classroom until his owner came to get him.

Lona Ferraro of Third Street said she was upstairs cleaning her pet iguana's cage in late August when he disappeared. She and her husband, Peter, later determined that Pluto (named after the ex-planet) was sunning himself on a window sill and accidentally broke through the screen, falling on the cushion of a deck chair below.

The Ferraros searched the neighborhood for Pluto. In describing their 2 1/2-foot-long pet lizard, they were met with some funny looks, and comments to match. Peter said one neighbor told him that if she sees the missing lizard he'll know it by her screams.

About two weeks later, a boy saw an iguana in a tree in the 2400 block of Berk Street, approximately five blocks from the Ferraros' house. Capt. Tom Lombardi of the Falls Fire Department said he was skeptical when he got the call on Sept. 10.

"An iguana in a tree?" he asked. When Lombardi got there and saw the iguana was only 12 to 15 feet off the ground, Lombardi said he thought the rescue could be accomplished with minimal risk of injury.

The fire department had been called the day before, Lombardi said, but the iguana was too high up in the tree to be reached with hand ladders. Because the iguana was now on a branch hanging near a corner of the garage, Lombardi visualized someone on the garage's roof with pruning shears, but he didn't have that kind of equipment. So Lombardi called the electric department and they came to help.

With four people on the roof, the branch on which the iguana was perched was snipped with the pruning shears. Momentarily getting hung up on a cable, the branch was freed and it dropped the rest of the way down onto a tarp being held by several rescuers on the ground.

Although Lombardi was unsure if the iguana would try to run away or bite someone, his fears were quickly forgotten once the branch and lizard hit the tarp. "The iguana was pretty docile," he said. "I think for an iguana, 68 degrees is doggone chilly. So it was not in the mood to scurry."

One of the rescuers picked up the branch with the iguana still clinging to it and placed them in a dog cage provided by one of the neighbors. There was about 12 people involved in the operation, Lombardi said, including members of the fire and electric departments as well as neighborhood residents.

Lombardi said he's rescued a number of dogs and cats and a few ducks, but never a lizard. "We had one [firefighter] only on the job three days and this was his first pet rescue," he said. "It took me 31 years to have an iguana rescue."

In the meantime, Ferraro said she was "miserable." She said Pluto had been a part of the family since he was 2 inches long when she bought him at a pet shop in Canton four years ago. Peter Ferraro said he had doubted Pluto would survive the chilly weather.

Then one morning about a month after Pluto went missing, a neighbor came to the Ferraros' door with a newspaper article about an iguana that was rescued in Cuyahoga Falls and made a classroom mascot at DeWitt Elementary School.

Pluto, who was known as "Iggy" at the school, aided fifth-grade teacher Errol Blazek in his lessons on ecosystems, according to Renee Schoonover, the school's principal.

Schoonover said Ferraro came "rushing over" when she heard about the iguana at the school, bringing with her photos of her iguana.

"I was so positive it was mine, because of the way the markings are on the back of his neck," said Ferraro, adding that there was no doubt to her when she saw the iguana's reaction to hearing his name.

"I called his name and he closed his eyes ... so I reached in and petted him," she said. "And they said, 'Take him home.'"

Schoonover said it was a pleasure to see their reunion. "It was just really a sweet time," she said. "She was so appreciative."

Ferraro said she was thankful that the fifth-graders in Mr. Brazek's class took good care of Pluto until she got him back.

E-mail: swiandt@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3141