Georgia Firefighters Rescue Pet Chameleon From Tree

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga., Oct 22 — Firefighters from Forsyth County Fire Department Station 14 rescued a runaway pet chameleon that had become stranded high in a tree last week, the department said on social media, as reported by WSB-TV and UPI.

Firefighters have been getting animals out of trees for about as long as there have been firefighters and trees. Usually it is a cat. Occasionally a bird. This time it was a lizard that is famous for blending into its surroundings.

The crew from Station 14 answered the call about a chameleon stuck up on a high branch in the county north of Atlanta. The department said the reptile was brought safely back down to the ground.

The department did not hide how unusual this was. "This one was a new one for us," it wrote in its post, according to WSB-TV and UPI.

Then it added the line that got the story passed around: "We've moved on from cats in trees. Now it's CHAMELEONS we gotta watch out for."

The post thanked the Station 14 crew and said the department was glad the chameleon was OK, WSB-TV reported.

It is worth pausing on the degree of difficulty here. Chameleons are climbers by nature, with grippy feet and a tail that can hang on to branches. And while a cat in a tree tends to announce itself loudly, a chameleon in a tree is a small, quiet, green animal sitting among a lot of other small, quiet, green things. Simply finding it may have been the hardest part of the job.

The reports did not say how long the chameleon was up there or how the crew got it down, and it is not clear whether the lizard was reunited with its owner, UPI noted. Forsyth News described it as a runaway pet.

Animal rescues are a normal part of the work for many fire departments. A stranded chameleon is not, WSB-TV pointed out. That is probably why the department felt the need to warn the public, and maybe other fire departments, that the old cat-in-a-tree call now has competition.

For the record, the ending was a happy one. The chameleon came down safely, the crew went back to the station, and Forsyth County added a new line to its list of animals it has pulled out of trees.

> What We Know
> - What: A runaway pet chameleon stranded high in a tree
> - Where: Forsyth County, Georgia
> - When: Oct. 12, per Forsyth News; the department's post spread this week
> - Who rescued it: Forsyth County Fire Department Station 14
> - Outcome: Brought down safely; unclear if it is back with its owner
> - Department's take: "This one was a new one for us."

Reported by WSB-TV, UPI, Forsyth News

Clown verdict: It was hiding in plain sight. That was the whole problem.

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