Logistics park staff had a scaly surprise when they found six geckos had stowed away in a storage container.

RSPCA inspector Prisca Giddens was called to the firm in Stanford-le-Hope, on Friday, December 18 after workers opened a container that had come in from abroad to find a number of geckos darting around inside.

The callers managed to contain the geckos in the container and Prisca caught them all and took them to South Essex Wildlife Hospital for specialist care.

Ms Giddens said: “They had quite the shock when they spotted the little geckos running around inside the container, but this actually happens fairly regularly!

“We’re called out hundreds of times a year to collect stowaway animals who have travelled into the country in storage containers, fruit and veg shipments, and even holidaymakers’ suitcases!

“We’re usually called out to little geckos like these guys but we’ve also picked up snakes, spiders, frogs, crabs and even scorpions.”

RSPCA bosses advise people to treat any unidentified animal with caution until identified accurately and not to try to handle an accidentally imported animal that has been discovered.

Call the charity’s emergency number on 0300 1234 999 for advice.

The RSPCA will help thousands of animals in need this winter.

To help the charity to continue rescuing animals like these geckos, visit www.rspca.org.uk.