EARLIER this year a Cumbrian 'tegu' lizard hit the headlines with a story of her great escape from a home in Workington.

In June, many people joined in the hunt for Echo the pet tegu, who went missing from her home in Moorclose on Sunday, June 4.

During her escape, in which Echo was believed to have tunnelled herself out of her garden, the tegu became a hit on social media, even making an appearance on ITV's Good Morning Britain.

She was finally found after being on the run for nearly two weeks.

Six months on, the famous lizard is said to be ‘doing great’ having a well-earned Christmas break with her owners and animal friends at Pet Encounter Cumbria.

Owner Siobhan Harkness said: “Echo is doing great. She has been out with us during our recent nine-day contract at Brockhole in Windermere where she was a massive hit both with local people and many who had travelled to the lakes for their Halloween event.

“We even had many Americans and Canadians visiting the event who had heard of Echo’s story of escape, so it was great to be able to chat with them and let them meet her.

“She also accompanied us to the Workington Christmas Light switch-on recently where again she was a massive hit with everybody with lots of photos and tegu cuddles.”

The organisation has also set up an Amazon wish list to provide some festive treats to Echo and her friends this Christmas.

Siobhan said: “We have taken in many rescue animals over the last couple of weeks including bearded dragons, hamsters, snakes and more. Various reasons include people moving, cost of living increases and children losing interest in pets.

“This has put extra work and costs onto us over the Christmas period. Whilst we are not a dedicated rescue charity we will always try to help when and where we can either taking the animals in need in ourselves or finding a forever home for them.

“To help us with this extra workload and costs we have set up an Amazon wish list which will be published on our Facebook page later today as we have many people asking if they can donate or help in any way and we are very grateful to all who can help us with this.

“We have had a fantastic year touring the county with our animals and meeting thousands of people and completing many school visits to educate and inspire the children.

“We can’t wait to see what 2024 holds for us and our animals can’t wait to be back in the public eye very soon, after a nice Christmas break with plenty of extra family time and, for most, Christmas veg.”