Iguana ‘came back to life’
A PET iguana left its owner stunned after ‘coming back to life’ at a crematorium.
Larissa Palmieri, from Haslingden, was devastated when she found 10-year-old Frank ‘cold and floppy’ and believing he had died, arranged for his body to be collected by a pet crematorium.
The 30-year-old science teacher had formed a special bond with the reptile after rescuing him three years ago from a previous abusive owner.
He lived in a mini zoo at Larissa’s home where she also has Burmese python, a rainbow boa, a common boa constrictor, a dwarf sungazer lizard, three types of geckos, a frog and even a Bengal cat and a rabbit.
She said: “I went in to feed him and he was just lying there. He had climbed over one of his logs and he was just slumped over it.
“For him to just be lying there in a really awkward position was horrible. His mouth was floppy, his mouth was grey where it would usually be pink, I couldn’t even open his eyes to check his response.
“I have lots of animals, I know what I’m doing with them and I’m not new to it, I knew that if iguanas get too cold they can start shutting down and it had been particularly cold that morning but his heat lamps and heaters were still on.
“But just in case, I wrapped him in a blanket and put him next to the radiator. I was holding him for about three hours and trying to warm him up - but nothing. He just didn’t seem like he was warming up at all, I started really fearing the worst. It was horrendous.”
Larissa called her mum Gill who volunteered to make the arrangements to get Frank cremated at Legacy Pets Crematorium in Prestwich.
Just a short time later, the family got a call from staff at Legacy Pets telling of an unexpected twist. Staff told the family that while being checked over, Frank had started to twitch and even opened his eyes.
A spokesperson for the pet crematorium said: “Upon Frank’s checks and settling him into our waiting lounge, it was spotted by a member of our team that Frank very slowly and sluggishly moved one of his front legs and his eyes had very slightly opened.
“Of course, we were startled by this - but took it upon ourselves to contact a reptile expert who advised us that Frank may have become too cold and so his body had put itself in a state of ‘cold-shock’ where they appear to be deceased but they are actually still alive.”
Gill said: “My daughter burst out crying when she got the call from the pet crematorium to say he was alive, she was just elated.”