Escaped Bearded Dragon

Owner thanks cricket commentator David Lloyd for catching runaway bearded dragon

Mike Keegan

August 12, 2012

 

SLIPPERY CUSTOMER: El Diablo the bearded dragon back home in Bramhall with owner Philip Hodson

The owner of a lost lizard was bowled over after the reptile was fielded by a cricket legend.
Philip Hodson and his family had given up hope of being reunited with bearded dragon ‘El Diablo’ when he went missing from their garden in Bramhall, Stockport, this summer.
Six weeks passed, leaving Philip in no doubt that he had seen the last of the pet.
But then he read in the M.E.N. that former Lancashire and England player and coach David Lloyd had spotted – and caught – a bearded dragon in his garden, about 200 metres away from their own.
And the following day the exotic creature was back home.
Philip, a solicitor, said: "We bought him two years ago for our boys who immediately called him El Diablo.
"We’d had a chameleon for eight years and he was a replacement.
"When the weather was nice earlier this summer we took him out in the garden in a different cage and he escaped.
"We found him on the patio but then when it was nice again we took him out again. My other half was confident he would not escape again but he did."
Philip added that all hope was lost as the weeks ticked by.
He said: "That was six weeks ago and to be honest we had given up hope. We thought he’d had it.
"There’s a golf course behind the house and there are much bigger creatures than him, like foxes, that live there.
"I saw the article in the Evening News and I know that David lives nearby.
"I called the vets who said he had been passed to the RSPCA. They said he had been given to a man called Crocodile Joe who lives in Atherton and has all kinds of exotic pets.
"We went there and got him back."
Philip is at a loss to explain how El Diablo, who enjoys warm weather, survived on his own for such a long time.
He said: "I can only think he must have found somewhere under cover and survived by eating insects or maybe plants.
"David’s house is about 220m away from ours which is a fair distance for him.
"But he seems a lot better than I expected.
"The boys are at an aunt’s in California but we told them and they are delighted.
"I have also been to David’s house to say thank you."
David, a columnist for M.E.N. Sport known to millions as ‘Bumble’, said simply: "All’s well that ends well."

Source:  Manchester Evening News August 12 2012