GBR Press: Lizard leaps from bunch of bananas

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

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?

That's a smooth newt.

oregon newt said:

That's a smooth newt.

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The bananas came from Costa Rica, so unless the newt got in them in the UK, it can't be L.vulgaris (a smooth newt, right?).

Some type of two lined salamander?

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.

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.

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

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!

ShauNewt said:

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!

Click to expand...

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