Canaries in a flap over lost lizards

IT IS to be hoped the threatened Canarian giant lizards will not fall victim to the likes of Jereme James, charged with smuggling three endangered iguana into the USA using his false leg.

He is thought to have adapted his prosthetic limb especially to smuggle the reptiles from Fiji. When the US Fish and Wildlife Service received a tip-off and raided his California home, they found four individuals and indications that the reptiles were being bred there.

If found guilty, James could face up to five years in the slammer. It would seem a light enough punishment for abetting the disappearance of a unique species from the wild.