A YOUNG boy got the fright of his life after finding a crab in a public toilet.
Arthur Moon, 12, discovered the stranded crustacean in a Birmingham market earlier this month – and was told by a local stall owner that it would be “dead in hours”.
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But mum Melanie was determined to rescue the abandoned crab and decided to take it back to their home in Coventry where they kept it in the salad drawer.
The woman told BirminghamLive that she had initially taken her son to the local market to pick up some bread when Arthur made the bizarre discovery in a public loo.
She said: “Arthur needed the toilet and went into the baby changing area by mistake. He came out and I’ve never seen him so excitable!
“He grabbed my arm and made me go and have a look.
“There was a little crab legging it around the room and then he tried to hide in the corner.”
Flustered by the find, the mum decided the best policy was to take the little crab back with them.
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When they got home, Melanie crafted a self-made living space in the family’s salad drawer for the crab – which they later named Gary.
“I thought, ‘I know, I’ll get the salad drawer out of the fridge,'” she said.
“I got sand from a bag in the garden in the bottom and then salted some water.”
Melaine described how the critter began to go from strength to strength as it grew more accustomed to it’s new environment.
But, knowing she couldn’t keep the crab in the box forever, the mum and son decided to make a laborious five-hour trip to Devon to release it back into the sea.
Feeling inspired, the mum decided she’d make it her to mission to buy more market crabs and set them free.
Melanie has raised more than £200 on GoFundMe to keep making the long journeys south.
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