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GBR Press: Lizard leaps from bunch of bananas

wes_von_papineäu

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Trust me, this belongs here. Go to the URL below for the photo please!

METRO (London, UK) 23 June 08 Lizard leaps from bunch of bananas (Jo Steele)
A shopper had the shock of her life when she unpacked a bag of bananas – to be confronted by a lizard.
Sharon Bell shrieked in horror as the stowaway – nicknamed Ned by her daughter – leapt on to her hand.
'I screamed so loudly, I really freaked out,' the 43-year-old mother of two said.
'The kids thought I'd had a mild heart attack. I threw my hand up and he ran back into the bag.
'I then had to get a neighbour to come and get him.'
The exotic visitor was alive and well despite its long journey – believed to be from Costa Rica to the Tesco store in Colchester.
Mrs Bell said 14-year-old daughter Ione and son Samuel, ten, begged her to keep the lizard but she thought it would be cruel.
She added: 'I rang Tesco headquarters and they said they would destroy him for me but I couldn't have him killed.
I'm not that cruel. I tried the zoo but because he might be foreign, they couldn't take him.'
An RSPCA officer who collected Ned could not identify the species but said he was a baby and not from Britain.
Tesco apologised and said it was a 'rare occurrence'.
'Despite all the expertise, checks and will in the world, it is not always possible to completely legislate for the natural world,' said a spokesman.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=187723&in_page_id=34
 

Nathan050793

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No wonder the "RSPCA officer" couldn't identify the species. Geez, I can't stand the ignorance of people. I'm glad Caudata.org exists to help fight this. I really doubt that it "leaped" too.

By the way, can anyone here identify what species it is?
 

FOG

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Looks just like the smooth newt I had. Maybe it could have got into the box of bananas when they arrived in England, and got into the bag through one of the little holes.
 

Lasher

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A friend of mine(the kind that hug trees and have an aversion to soap) is chair of an anti RSPCA group, their slogan is 'RSPCA: promoting animal rights and animal ignorance'.
Couldnt agree more. Seeing a stray tortoise mauling the hand of an RSPCA inspecter in my back garden as a child was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, particularly when I found out they'd killed it a week later.
I hope the little fella finds his way to a competent owner. Promptly.
 

louise

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Maybe it was a 'slow news day' and the newt was 'put' there for the purpose of creating a story??
 

ShauNewt

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If that's the case, they could have done something more exciting like "Giant Lizard Leaps and Bites Off Tesco Shoppers Head" Just jumping from some bananas isn't much of a big deal compared to that, is it? Just make up the biting off head bit. Now that could even be a front page headline!
 

Lasher

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If that's the case, they could have done something more exciting like "Giant Lizard Leaps and Bites Off Tesco Shoppers Head" Just jumping from some bananas isn't much of a big deal compared to that, is it? Just make up the biting off head bit. Now that could even be a front page headline!

Anything to get around the place in under an hour.
I've thought about un leashing a veloceraptor to clear out the pensioners.
 
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