A VETERINARY nurse has been commended after she saved the life of seven geckos left abandoned in a park.

Rebecca Lawrence, from Westway Veterinary Group in Newcastle, nursed the lizards round the clock, hand feeding and bathing them twice a day.

A resident out walking found the animals in Stargate Park in Ryton in June and took them to Westway’s main hospital on West Road, Newcastle.

A further search of the area by Westway veterinary nurses, Paige Hallam and Amy White, to check if there were any remaining geckos found one more survivor.

They were in such an emaciated state and close to death that three did not survive.

Now, three of the geckos have been rehomed, while Ms Lawrence has adopted four.

She said: “It’s been a long road back to recovery for them and a lot of hard work over the last month to bring them back to health, but they are defying the odds.

“The geckos, which are believed to be around one-year-old, were so skinny and malnourished, they would not have survived for long in the open air."