Bits for Pets Blog

LITTLE Daniel Giuliani’s mum reckoned his imagination had gone into overdrive when he said he was going “to talk to my lizard”.

But she was stunned to receive a call at work later that day from her cleaner, who had seen a five-inch long reptile running round her lounge.

The bright green lizard had stowed away from Italy, where three-year-old Daniel’s family had been on holiday a month earlier.

Mum Elizabeth, 38, said: “Daniel had disappeared into the back of the house where I heard him say ‘goodbye’, then we set off and I did not give it another thought — until later when I had a call from the cleaner. She wondered if the lizard was a pet.”

Elizabeth, from Haydon Bridge in Northumberland, said the Italian wall lizard slipped into the family car when she and husband Mark had taken Daniel and his 21-month-old sister Lois to Urbino.

She said: “It’s incredible to think it had been running round the house for a month and only Daniel knew. We called the council and the lizard is being looked after at a lost lizards’ home somewhere in Newcastle.

Daniel thinks it has gone back to Italy. He’s asked if we can go visit.”

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A family of hedgehogs has been rescued in the Sticklepath area of Barnstaple – from an unlit garden bonfire.

Many female hedgehogs are still pregnant at this time of year and Guy Fawkes’ night bonfires provide a perfect nesting ground.

Doreen Williams, of Cullompton Wildlife Care Centre, said: “Be careful when lighting your bonfires – hedgehogs may be nesting in them.

“Make sure that you check them first by gently lifting the bottom with a broom handle, then look underneath with a torch and listen for noise. If they are there they will respond.”

The hedgehog family from Sticklepath are not the only ones from North Devon to be rescued – others have been found in Bideford, Braunton and Newport.

If you find any hedgehogs over the next few festive weeks, please contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society on 01584 890801 or visit www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

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CALLOUS dog owners are abandoning their pets in parks and on the street, and the credit crunch is getting the blame.

The borough, which has the highest dog ownership in the UK, is seeing a soaring number of animals abandoned as the financial crisis deepens, according to Kirsty O’Sullivan, a volunteer with animal welfare groups, Scruffy Angels and Animal Action.

But she believes families are using the economic downturn as an excuse to ditch their pets.

Barking and Dagenham Council says it finds one dog a day, on average.

But Miss O’Sullivan says people are also finding dogs and taking them to other agencies.

She says three Staffordshire bull terriers were found in Dagenham in one hour on Monday - one outside Old Dagenham Park, Siviter Way, one outside the Cross Keys pub, Crown Street, and one tied to a tree.

It later turned out one had been lost for several days before it was discovered tied to railings. It has now been reunited with its owner.

She said three other dogs were found the same day.

Miss O’Sullivan, 28, told the Recorder: “I don’t believe it’s the credit crunch. I think they’re using it as an excuse.”

She says keeping a dog costs just £5 a week.

Animal Action is picking up a number of Staffs. Because they are a very popular breed and can be sold for between £250-750, depending on the age and colour, many residents have decided to breed them.

Litters are typically between six and 10 puppies.

Miss O’Sullivan said: “I think, with Staffs, everybody has a go at breeding them. There’s so many of them.

“But people need to realise the work that goes into looking after them. Once they’ve gone past the cute puppy stage is when they dump them.”

Puppy adverts have been placed near the Bull roundabout in Rainham Road South, Dagenham.

Data collection company Experian released a survey last year showing one in 10 households - 11.42 per cent - owned a dog in Barking and Dagenham, the highest in the UK.

A council spokesman said many of the dogs it picks up have not been abandoned, but are lost and are later collected by their owners.

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