Born survivor! Lizard stows away in luggage and then goes through cycle in WASHING MACHINE before being adopted by stunned holidaymaker.
A rare lizard survived a 3,000-mile flight in a freezing cold luggage hold only to then be put through the wash by an unsuspecting holidaymaker.
Company director Sue Banwell-Moore had returned from a trip to the Cape Verde islands, off the coast of Western Africa, with a friend when she found the brown 6in (15cm) long Chioninia lizard among her washing.
Ms Banwell-Moore said after the initial shock, she realised it must have stowed away in her suitcase and travelled all the way back to her house in Churchinford, near Taunton, Somerset.
'I got home on the Tuesday and it was snowy in the Blackdown Hills, and we got back in the early hours of the morning so it wasn't until the next day when I did a couple of loads of washing that I found him,' she said.
'I did scream, I was just so shocked, I couldn't believe how it had got there, on my floor, and was wondering if it was going to run all around the room.
Ms Banwell-Moore said she had fallen in love with Larry after realising just what the reptile had gone through.
Larry has now completed the last part of his journey - 25 miles from Churchinford to the Tropiquaria Wildlife Park in Watchet, where he will spend the rest of his days.