Frog hops on for 5,000-mile trip
Exotic visitor found in store’s bananas
AN exotic frog has been found in a bunch of bananas at the Asda store in Llanelli after it travelled 5,000 miles from Colombia.
The frog was discovered by a member of staff at the supermarket’s Murray Street store and they alerted RSPCA Cymru.
Amphibians are capable of slowing down their metabolism under different environmental conditions and it’s believed this is how the frog would have survived the long journey into a cooler climate without food and drink.
The frog – nicknamed Asda – has now been transferred to a marine life specialist centre in Haverfordwest where he will live in a special humid environment. Staff at the centre, called Silent World To You, believe it is a banana tree frog.
RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said: “I thought I’d seen everything working for the RSPCA but this banana drama was a new one for me.
“This adventurous frog has travelled more than 5,000 miles amid a bunch of bananas, splitting from his native Colombia before ending up at a Llanelli superstore. It’s certainly a long old journey for the weekly shop.
“We’re so grateful to the members of the Asda team who contacted us. One team member spotted the frog while another confined the frog and took him home.
“This quick thinking helped keep this frog safe.
“Frogs and other amphibians are so good at shutting down their bodies when they need to. It seems highly likely that’s exactly what this frog did to survive this long journey without food.
“Thankfully the frog’s remarkable journey has a happy ending, with the little chap now safe and well at a specialist facility in Pembrokeshire.”
Colombia is the UK’s biggest supplier of bananas, with hundreds of thousands of tons of the fruit making the journey each year.
Ginny Spenceley, from Silent World To You, added: “With fruit deliveries no longer sprayed or treated it isn’t uncommon for a frog or spider to hitch a ride.
“Fortunately, he’s doing really well and, funnily enough, got very comfortable in a banana skin as we helped settle him into his new, less familiar surroundings.
“Asda the frog is very small with a body about the size of my thumb but longer back legs. Of course, we don’t know if it is a baby or an adult.
“We’ve ordered a special delivery of crickets for Asda the frog. He’ll now live in our heated animal house in a planted terrarium in a humid environment enjoying a diet of crickets and flies.”