UPDATED: RIVERSIDE: Chopper, the 5-pound, 4-foot long, crocodile monitor returned home

UPDATED: Sunday, Nov. 5, 1:35 a.m.

RIVERSIDE — Chopper, the 4-year-old, crocodile monitor lizard found sunning itself in a Riverside back yard, was returned safely to its thankful owner Friday, Nov. 3; two days after a Riverside County Animal Services official managed to safely lasso and apprehend the adventurous, five-pound, four-foot long, escape artist.

Chopper and his owner, DeWitt “Goldie” Vercher are reunited after Chopper spent a few days crashing at a home in Riverside’s Arlington South neighborhood. RCAS photo

Chopper’s grateful owner, DeWitt “Goldie” Vercher, of Riverside, and a mildly indifferent Chopper were reunited at the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley.

After being reunited with Chopper, Vercher, who owns a Riverside-based Harley-Davidson maintenance and apparel shop, is founder and president of 1DOWN Motorcycle Club and was a cast member of FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” series as a member of the Grim Bastards Motorcycle Club, was just happy and thankful to have his scaly friend back.

According to Vercher, Chopper managed to slip out of the large, 14 feet long, 9 feet wide and 8 feet high pen where the spoiled lizard enjoys his own pond and a shed he can use as a sauna.

On Friday afternoon, a contractor was at Vercher’s residence reinforcing the enclosure, “so it will never, ever happen again,” Vercher explained.

Chopper’s escape and capture became news after Riverside residents Christine and J. Craig Williams first spotted the large lizard casually sunning itself atop a sturdy hedge in the couple’s Arlington South back yard in the western portion of the city.

After discovering the wayward lizard in their back yard, the couple called 911. A City of Riverside Police dispatcher eventually contacted Riverside County Animal Services to handle the lizard’s capture.

Animal Services Officer John Hergenreder responded to the home shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday and after assessing the lizard and the situation he quickly managed to snare the lizard using a loop at the end of his control stick.

“It did not try to escape when I walked up to it, but it did start to hiss loudly,” Officer Hergenreder explained. “It sensed I was coming to grab it.”

The Williams’ suspect that Chopper may have been camping atop and inside their hedge for at least a few days and they explained to Hergenreder that in the days leading up to Chopper’s discovery and apprehension, the couple’s two dogs, a 65-pound Labrador mix named Duchess, and a 12-pound Italian greyhound named Viggo, seemed to know something strange was going on in the backyard and that an unwanted visitor had decided to use their home as a temporary crash pad.

Chopper was found sunning himself atop a high hedge in the back yard of a Riverside home. RCAS photo

“The dogs were really going nuts a couple nights ago,” J. Craig Williams explained. Also, a bird was attacked earlier in the week.

He explained he first learned of Chopper’s adventures outside his pen when he was contacted by a friend who texted him and asked if Chopper had gotten out.

“As soon as I heard the news that he was loose, my whole system shut down,” Vercher explained. “My stomach and everything just dropped.”

Vercher explained Chopper’s name pays homage to his love of motorcycles.

“He is a healthy eater,” Vercher said of Chopper, who gets fed two “jumbo rats” twice a week.

“I’m just so happy to have him back.”