Traffic halted by dumped iguana

Iguanas grow aggressive when they are unable to mate

An iguana brought traffic to a halt when he was caught wandering through a city's streets.

The five-feet long creature was spotted by a motorist as it crawled across busy Blackfriars Street in Salford.

However, the driver managed to block the street with his car until staff from an animal rescue centre arrived.

The iguana - named Eddie - is believed to have been a discarded pet.

'Bad mood'

Wendy White, of the Animals in Distress Sanctuary in Irlam, said: "You have to be careful with iguanas as they can give you a very nasty bite with their needle-like teeth or give you a bad bruise with their tail.

"But Eddie, because he was freezing cold, was quite docile and relatively easy to capture.

"He is still in a very bad mood due to sexual frustration - we've named him Eddie because he is evil.

"It's just natural for an iguana to become aggressive when they are unable to find a mate."

Eddie is being kept in a reptile tank at a temperature of about 35C.

He is about six or seven years old but the sanctuary does not plan to rehouse him.

Staff at the sanctuary believe he is too large to make a good pet.