Escaped dragon on the loose in shop car park
SHOPPERS had to check their eyes when they came across an escaped DRAGON outside a supermarket in Cardiff.
The green and yellow bearded dragon turned up outside the Lidl store in East Tyndall Street, in Splott and seemed a bit out of place among people in the socially distanced queue outside the shop.
One of the shoppers who came across the reptile was Daniel Pass, 31, from Splott, who called the RSPCA upon spotting it.
He said: “I saw the lizard as I was leaving the Splott Lidl at the edge of the car park taking in the sun.
“I could see it breathing and then it moved off to the hedge as I filmed from a distance.
“It was cool to see but I assume it was escaped.
“I contacted the RSPCA and my colleague at Cardiff University Rhys Jones, from the BBC wildlife shows, who is an expert herpetologist for advice.
“The RSPCA said they couldn’t send out someone unless it was contained but when I returned with a box I couldn’t find it.”
Originally from Australia, bearded dragons are a type of omnivorous lizard that have become increasingly popular with pet owners in Europe and the US.
They can grow up to 22in in length, and get the first part of their name from the way they can enlarge their throat – the underside of which can also turn black when stressed – and which is then said to resemble a beard.
Meanwhile, this particular lizard has since been reunited with its owner after he was spotted on social media, and now he is back home after enjoying Friday’s little adventure.