TELLER COUNTY, COLO. -- It has been roughly 72 hours since a six-foot long lizard escaped from its owner in Teller County, and the reptile is already making national news.
The Nile Monitor lizard, which is still missing as of Thursday afternoon, already has its own Facebook page with roughly 100 "fans."
The owner said the lizard, whose name is Dino, was on a leash in the front yard but escaped and hasn't been seem or heard from since. Deputies and animal control officials have looked for it without much success.
"It is six-feet long and 25 pounds, so I would say it is kind of skinny," Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger said Tuesday.
Ensminger said that type of lizard can be aggressive, so they are warning residents.
"We looked it up on the internet, and it is a peculiar-looking lizard," Ensminger said. "From the research we have done on them, they can be aggressive towards small animals and potentially small children, but that has not been verified."
Dino has made the home pages of Yahoo News, Fox News and The Huffington Post and has also been featured on Jay Leno.
Reverse 911 calls were made to residents in three nearby subdivisions.
"My husband and I kind of looked at each other and laughed," Woodland West resident Cherie Schmidt said. "We thought 'how did a lizard get loose in our subdivision?'"
Anyone who spots the reptile is asked to call the Teller County Sheriff's Office at (719) 687-9652.
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