Igor the iguana recaptured Saturday after weeks on the run in his McHenry neighborhood

After more than three weeks on the run, keeping rescuers at bay and finally coming down in a blaze of red-and-orange glory, Igor the iguana was back in his McHenry home Saturday night.

Igor was last seen at home by owner Carol Chrisman and her son, Billy, on Aug. 4, right before the nearly 4-foot lizard chewed his way through a mesh screen and made a run for it.

Wednesday morning, neighbor Tyler Roman walked outside to leave for work and found the reptile on his driveway enjoying the week’s heat wave.

Roman, who shares a backyard fence from the Chrisman’s, had made it his personal goal to see Igor back with his family, organizing “the iguana task force” in the days since.

“Tyler never stopped. He said ‘I am going to get that baby home’.”

—  Igor the Iguana owner Carol Chrisman

“Tyler never stopped. He said ‘I am going to get that baby home,’” Carol Chrisman said. “What a great person he is.”

The 5-year-old iguana had been perched high in a tree on Roman’s side of the yard, but hanging over the Chrisman side, since they first spotted him. Roman reached out to Justin Raven of Ravens Landscaping and asked his friend to bring over his boom lift to reach his spot in the treetops.

He’d texted Raven, asking if he would bring the equipment for an iguana rescue. The response text was “‘What!?’ with a question mark and exclamation points,” Roman said.

A Northwest Herald story on Thursday had both the Chrisman and Roman phones ringing, with friends checking in on Igor.

“Everybody was so wonderful” as they tried to coax Igor down over the past few days, Carol Chrisman said.

When Raven brought over the boom Saturday, they were worried Igor would leap to another tree, Roman said. More friends and neighbors gathered under the branches, holding a sheet they hoped to catch the scaly escape artist in.

Igor did leap as Raven got close – to a lower branch, Roman said. Then, Igor jumped again, missed a branch and landed on his feet about 35 feet down, a few feet from those holding the sheet.

Another rescuer used the sheet to scoop up Igor before he could dash to another tree.

Igor seems OK and was relaxing under his bed Saturday night, Billy Chrisman said. There is a vet visit planned for Monday, as well as a shopping trip for a new, larger enclosure.

“He seems like he wants more space,” Chrisman noted.