A young Englishwoman and an Israeli family discovered the same unsavory animal in their suitcases when they returned from a trip to Thailand.
Some travel guides advise checking your suitcases before leaving Thailand in case a malicious person has slipped drugs.
It’s always a good idea to follow this recommendation before going through customs, but after reading these two stories, you’ll also probably want to make sure that your luggage does not contain this stowaway who, a priori, has the ability to thwart scanners. x-ray of international airports.
Also, by the way, please make sure you don’t have marijuana unless you are going to a country where this soft drug has also been legalized.
The misadventure of a young Englishwoman on her return from a trip
Asian toad. Photo: Anagha devi
In August 2022, 20-year-old student Hannah Turian had a big scare when she opened her suitcase.
The shocked young woman discovered a creature peering at her through her clothing and quickly called her family to help catch it.
This creature was a toad, not the kind of creature you want to keep as a pet, to caress and kiss, although sometimes, according to some legends, he could turn into a prince charming .
She believes the amphibian slipped into one of her shoes before packing her bags to travel more than 8,000 kilometers from Bangkok to Cardiff, UK.
The video she posted online shows the animal hiding in her clothes as she screams in fear before the animal jumps onto her bathroom floor.
Ms Turian said she named the toad ‘Robbert’ before it was captured and handed over to a reptile expert for treatment.
They said the Toad was in good health and recovering well after spending around 35 hours on the road and in the air.
“After the toad left, we sat in our living room and wondered what had just happened,” she recalls.
The Cardiff University student was in Thailand to visit her aunt after teaching English there for a month.
She told local media that she flew out of Heathrow Airport before returning to her student house in Cardiff on the night of Saturday August 6, and unpacked the next day Morning.
“When I saw the toad moving I was on the phone with my mum, I closed the suitcase and ran out,” Ms Turian said.
“Me and my roommate then carried him upstairs to the bathroom.
We opened the suitcase again, and the toad was sitting in the corner watching us. »
“When I arrived, my suitcase was scanned before I could leave the airport. So I don’t know how he wasn’t spotted. »
The stray toad has found a new home in Wales
The 20-year-old said that after finding the toad she looked at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) website, but joked that it there was no information about the smuggling of toads from Thailand.
She posted a message on Facebook and was informed of a reptile rescue center nearby.
Reptile expert Jackie Hamilton, 40, who has 150 different species, drove to Ms Turian’s home to collect the animal, saying it was ‘the first time’ she had heard of a animal returning from Asia.
She identified the reptile as a non-venomous common Asian toad.
“They are usually found in Thailand and surrounding areas.
They often live in built-up areas, so it’s no surprise this one ended up in Hannah’s shoe,” Ms Hamilton said.
“As the toad was in a suitcase, we rinsed it with a two-litre bottle of spring water.
We also offered him a few different insects, in order to feed him a little.
“He was quite happy with that. »
It is unknown how he is adjusting to his new home on the other side of the world.
The similar misadventure of an Israeli family
Toads for sale in a Thai market
An Israeli family who had just returned from a trip to Thailand had the same surprise when they opened their suitcases.
They saw a toad jump in their living room in Herzliya.
“When we opened the suitcases, we realized it couldn’t be an Israeli toad, because the house had been closed for two weeks and we live upstairs,” said the mother, Galit Lieberman.
She had wondered then, like Hannah Turian, why airport scanners hadn’t detected the animal.
A common Asian toad
Reptile and amphibian conservationist Aviad Bar said it was an Asian toad, also known as Duttaphrynus Melanostictus, the same species as the toad found by Hannah Turian.
“It’s a common toad in the south and southwest of mainland Asia,” says Barr.
“It is a toad that likes human areas, breeding in stagnant water sources or small streams.
It is active at night and feeds on a wide variety of arthropods, worms and small vertebrates”.
It is an animal that is often eaten in “lap”, minced meat mixed with many spices, usually very spicy and sprinkled with lemon juice, in Thailand.
Maybe that’s why they flee Thailand, hidden in the luggage of foreign travellers…
A danger to local species
Ronnie King, a veterinarian with the Nature and Parks Authority, warned that “introducing an animal like this to Israel presents two significant dangers.”
“Biological invasion is dangerous for local species and can lead to their suppression and extinction.
Second, it can lead to disease transmission, which can be very dangerous and lead to the extinction of entire animal populations.
The family was therefore right to isolate the animal and notify the competent authorities,” he explained.
Source: Yahoo News Australia, I24 News
