SHOCKED animal rescuers mounted a tricky operation to save a sick exotic reptile only to discover it was a chewed dog’s toy.

Dog's toy

With its grey, scaly skin and bulging eyes, the creature looked as if it was a tropical lizard (Image: NC)

With its grey, scaly skin and bulging eyes, the creature looked as if it was a tropical lizard that had escaped from a menagerie.

Only when intrepid RSPCA animal collection officer David Eckworth looked into the scary eyes of the collapsed lizard did he realise the creature was a toy elephant that had been mangled by the jaws of a dog.

A worried home owner had alerted the animal welfare charity when she spotted the creature curled up in her garden, looking as if it had succumbed to the cool weather.

ACO Eckworth said today: “The call came in saying the lizard was unresponsive and was curled in a ball.

“But when I attended the address and ventured into the garden to locate the poorly reptile I found a half-eaten dog’s chew toy of an elephant.

“It was quite entertaining but I think the woman was a little embarrassed.”

The craze to keep snakes, lizards and other reptiles as exotic pets has put the nation on alert for the potential for them to escape from captivity and slither into odd places, sparking regular calls to the RSPCA from worried home-owners.

Yet sometimes concerned callers are not always brave enough to get a close look of an escaped creature to confirm its authenticity.

Dog's toy

The creature was a toy elephant that had been mangled by the jaws of a dog (Image: NC)

Sock

ACO Vic Hurr responded to a call about a lizard that turned out to be a dirty sock (Image: NC)

Last September, ACO Vic Hurr responded to a call about a lizard that had been found under a bed in Coventry, but when she arrived the runaway reptile turned out to be a dirty sock.

At the time, she said: “It was around seven inches long and about two inches wide.

"It was protruding from the edge of the bed and it wasn’t moving at all.

“As it wasn’t very light, I got out my torch to see better and that’s when I realised it wasn’t a lizard at all… It was a pink stripy sock.

“I advised the young girl whose bedroom it was to tidy her room and to take care of her socks, but not before reminding her that another one will turn up soon as they are usually in pairs.”

The RSPCA says it receives more than 1.1 million calls to its 24-hour emergency hotline each year, but some of the calls provide light relief from the usually distressing complaints of cruelty.

Concerns for the welfare of animals should be reported to the RSPCA’s emergency hotline on 0300 1234 999 or via the charity’s website.