WARSAW, Oct 29 (Bernama-dpa) — A woman in Poland made an unusual discovery in a pack of supermarket-bought salad: a live gecko, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
The woman, who owns a horse farm near Lublin, said she failed to spot the creature while washing the rocket leaves.
“It was only when I added the rocket to the bowl of beans, onions, and mozzarella and went to dress the salad that I suddenly saw the little gecko,” she told dpa.
She said she was not frightened, however. “We live in the countryside so we often encounter wild animals,” she said.
The gecko is now in the care of the Epicrates Foundation, which looks after exotic animals that people have chanced upon.
“It is a young wall gecko,” the foundation’s Bartlomiej Gorzkowski told the Fakt newspaper, which reported on the find on Wednesday. The species is common in European coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea.
The gecko was severely undercooled but is now housed in a terrarium and doing well, according to the foundation. Gorzkowski said the cool transport conditions had likely saved the reptile’s life.
“Without water and food, it would have had no chance. But because it’s a cold-blooded animal, the low temperatures slowed down its metabolism.”
The gecko has been nicknamed “Mr Bean” because of where it was found.
— BERNAMA-dpa