JOHANNESBURG
(AP) — They say cats have nine lives. Now a Chinese toad has joined that club
of wily survivors.
South
Africans are marveling at the endurance of a toad that got trapped in a cargo
shipment from China to Cape Town after jumping into a porcelain candlestick
that was made there. South African officials reportedly planned to
put down the creature, fearing it would cause harm as an invasive species if it
were let go in the wild.
But
the toad got a last-minute reprieve. Mango Airlines, a South African
airline, transported the toad on Friday to Johannesburg for delivery
to an animal sanctuary after officials decided to find a way to let the
globe-trotting toad live. The two-hour flight was a breeze compared to the trip
from China, an odyssey of many weeks and thousands of kilometers (miles) across
the Indian Ocean.
Airline
spokesman Hein Kaiser said the toad got "first-class
treatment," sitting in the cockpit in a transparent plastic container with
escort Brett Glasby, an animal welfare inspector. There was even a mock
ceremony in which the toad's boarding pass was handed to Glasby.
"He
was the star of the show on the flight," Kaiser said of the amphibious
passenger. "I think every passenger stopped to have a look."
On
landing in Johannesburg, the toad, dubbed Jack B Nimble, was brought out of his
container for a celebrity-style photo call.
Observers
said the mottled brown toad seemed like a cool customer. "Pretty
chilled," as Kaiser put it.
It
belongs to the Asian Gold Toad species, which breeds during monsoon season. It
is believed to have survived the trip from China by hardening its skin to
prevent it drying out and also slowing its breathing and heart rate, methods
that help the species survive in times of drought.
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