A family were left goggle-eyed after finding a slippery little stowaway in their bag of bananas. The Hispaniolan common tree frog had travelled 4,300 miles, all the way from the Dominican Republic.
The Holloways had received a Sainsbury's food delivery at their home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, when they spotted the creature. Iain Holloway said: “We were unpacking the shopping in the kitchen and my wife turned to me and said ‘look there’s a frog in the bananas’ and I said, ‘sorry, there’s a what in the bananas?’
"We then all stood in the kitchen looking at each other wondering what to do as there isn’t really a manual for these sorts of things. We rang the RSPCA who advised us to look at the information about frogs on their website as we didn’t know whether it was a non-native species.
"In the meantime our 12-year-old son started to do a bit of research and told us he thought the markings looked like an Hispaniolan common tree frog. It was a complete surprise to see this little creature in our kitchen so far from home and we’ve all had a bit of a chuckle about it since.”
The RSPCA, which is now caring for the frog, believes it had been wrapped up with the bananas 'for some time' and staff were amazed it was in such good condition. Animal rescue officer Jonny Wood collected the frog from Tamworth on September 24, the day after the family had found him.
Jonny said: “The little frog was bright and alert and has since been feeding well. The Holloway family did exactly the right thing by not touching the amphibian, given the uncertainty about what sort of frog we were dealing with."
The Hispaniolan tree frog is common on Hispaniola - an island divided into the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They are found from sea level up to 6,600 ft, breed in standing bodies of water and have a lifespan of four to five years.
A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: "Cases like this are extremely rare because we have processes in place to prevent them from happening."
