Eel spotted on street after heavy rain

A man has spoken of his disbelief after coming across an eel in the gutter outside his home.

Dave Wood said the eel was about 3ft (90cm) long and "thrashing about" when he found it in St Aubin, Jersey.

The sighting came at about 16:30 GMT on Wednesday after a day of heavy rain led to flash flooding in some parts of the island.

With help from another resident, the eel was safely returned to the harbour.

Dave Wood was on his way back to his flat on Rue du Crocquet, when he described seeing "movement in the gutter".

He said: "I thought it was just light reflecting on all the water, so I started walking down the hill and it became clearer it was a snake or an eel.

"There was a lady walking up from the bottom of the hill at the same time, and we both stopped and looked at each other like, what do we do now?"

Wood said he was not sure at first of the best way to try to help the eel: "It was about 3 foot long and thrashing about… and they're slippy too!"

The pair then set about finding someone to help rescue the eel from its predicament.

Wood said: "The lady went down to the wine bar – to see if there was a fisherman in there maybe, then a lad who I know came running out the Trafalgar pub with a tray and said 'Oh my god look at this' – he then bundled it into the tray.

"Then he took it down to the harbour and released it, and he said it was quite happy and swam off."

He described the encounter as "nuts", and theorised that the eel may have come from a flooded pond or stream further up the hill.

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