Rescue centre staff are caring for one of the most unusual exotic pets found dumped in a recycling bin – a bearded DRAGON.
Horrified binmen found the frozen and frightened reptile left out with the rubbish in a green box on collection day.
They knocked on doors in Bridgwater, Somerset, trying to find the owner but nobody claimed him.
They popped the lizard in a cardboard box with newspaper and took him to a rescue centre where staff have named him Iggy Pop.
Steve Bisset, a driver-loader from SWP collections who spotted the lizard, said: “He was alive but cold and hardly moving.
“I knocked on the door where the box was but they said it was nothing to do with them.
“We called him Iggy Pop, and took him back to our depot, where someone took him to Secret World.
“It is about the strangest thing I have ever found in a recycling box.”
The exotic animal was only found after Steve checked in the box before tossing it into the back of his truck.
Iggy is being cared for at Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Highbridge, Somerset, and the RSPCA are trying to find the callous owner.
He has been given fluids and placed in a container with a heat mat to warm him up.
Josie Nott, an animal carer at the charity, warned people to think twice about getting an exotic pet.
She said: “We are horrified that someone would put an animal out as an item of rubbish with no thought to the suffering the animal may experience.
“We only deal with British wildlife, but will help in emergency situations when we can stabilise an animal and then pass it on to the correct organisation.
“The RSPCA is now involved and the case is under investigation.
“Please think twice before taking on an exotic pet. They are not just for Christmas and will need years of care, attention and love.”
