Gecko rides hundreds of miles with shipment of beer

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A small gecko that may have traveled thousands of miles with a box of beer was captured at a British warehouse and turned over to animal rescuers.

Beer importer and distributor Cave Direct North tweeted a video showing staff working to catch the small moorish gecko, which shed its tail during the capture attempt as a defense mechanism the species uses to ward off predators.

"He wasn't moving fast but he was trying to get under another pallet and we didn't know if we'd ever see him again if he got away so we managed to confine him in a box," warehouse manager Will Evans told the RSPCA.

An RSPCA rescuer was called to the warehouse on Thursday after staff managed to trap the gecko in a box. The warehouse workers nicknamed the small lizard Skull King in honor of the Beaverton Brewery beer box they used to capture it.

Warehouse workers said the gecko is believed to have stowed away on a 4,000-mile trip from North America or a 900-mile trip from Munich with a shipment of Hawaii-based Kona Brewing Company beer.

The gecko was taken to a specialist veterinarian to be checked out.

"At least in this instance, ale's well that ends well," RSPCA senior scientific officer Nicola White said.