Lizard leaps from bunch of bananas
By JO STEELE - Monday, June 23, 2008
Lizard leaps from bunch of bananas
A shopper had the shock of her life when she unpacked a bag of bananas – to be confronted by a lizard.
Sharon Bell shrieked in horror as the stowaway – nicknamed Ned by her daughter – leapt on to her hand
'I screamed so loudly, I really freaked out,' the 43-year-old mother of two said.
'The kids thought I'd had a mild heart attack. I threw my hand up and he ran back into the bag.
'I then had to get a neighbour to come and get him.'
The exotic visitor was alive and well despite its long journey – believed to be from Costa Rica to the Tesco store in Colchester.
Mrs Bell said 14-year-old daughter Ione and son Samuel, ten, begged her to keep the lizard but she thought it would be cruel.
She added: 'I rang Tesco headquarters and they said they would destroy him for me but I couldn't have him killed.
I'm not that cruel. I tried the zoo but because he might be foreign, they couldn't take him.'
An RSPCA officer who collected Ned could not identify the species but said he was a baby and not from Britain.
Tesco apologised and said it was a 'rare occurrence'.
'Despite all the expertise, checks and will in the world, it is not always possible to completely legislate for the natural world,' said a spokesman
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confront
To come face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility: I wish to confront my accuser in a court of law -
To bring face to face with: The defendant was confronted with incontrovertible evidence of guilt -
To come up against; encounter: confronted danger at every turn -
cruel
willfully or knowingly causing pain or distress to others
Synonyms 1. bloodthirsty, ferocious, merciless, relentless. Cruel, pitiless, ruthless, brutal, savage imply readiness to cause pain to others. Cruel implies willingness to cause pain, and indifference to suffering: a cruel stepfather. Pitiless adds the idea of refusal to show compassion: pitiless to captives. Ruthless implies cruelty and unscrupulousness, letting nothing stand in one's way: ruthless greed. Brutal implies cruelty that takes the form of physical violence: a brutal master. Savage suggests fierceness and brutality: savage battles.
—Antonyms 1. kind. 2. sympathetic, compassionate