Live crayfish found in Hertford postbox

September 8, 2012

A POSTMAN got more than he bargained for during one of his regular rounds in Hertford when he discovered a live crayfish in a postbox.

Jon Parker, 32, was emptying the mail from the post box in North Road on Monday (August 6) when he spotted the shrimp-like creature.

He said: “I didn’t know what it was. I was very surprised. I’ve never come across anything like it in a postbox before.”

The Bengeo resident, whose most unusual finding in a postbox up to that point was a pie and a fork, took the crustacean to the Chestnut Veterinary Group in Ware Road, Hertford, where it was identified as a North American signal crayfish.

Veterinary nurse Siobhan Griffin said: “We’d never had a crayfish brought in before. This one was quite big and in good snapping form.

“It couldn’t be put back into the wild as North American crayfish are killing off the English crayfish.”

It was instead taken to The Waterworld Centre aquarium and pond supplier inEnfield, northLondon, where it is now being taken care of.

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