One quiet afternoon in March, Anne McCabe was gazing out her window in the United Kingdom when she noticed her cat, Drilbur, fixated on something moving along the pavement. Curious, McCabe stepped outside to investigate.
What Drilbur had found wasn’t a toy or a bug — it was a slow worm, a legless lizard often mistaken for a snake. The poor creature looked chilled and sluggish, barely moving.
“He was quite large, around 9 inches long,” McCabe told The Dodo. “He seemed cold and tired.”
Wanting to help, McCabe gently placed the slow worm in a cardboard box lined with a soft cloth and set it in a sunny room to warm up. After giving him some time to rest, she went back to check on him — but the box was empty.
“I searched all over the shelf and on the floor — no sign of him,” McCabe said. “Just as I was going to give up, I looked up, and there he was … peeking out from inside a diorama of a magician’s shop!”
The slow worm had made himself at home, nestled among the tiny props and figurines as if he’d been part of the scene all along.
“It was so funny — and a little startling — to see him looking right at me, just inches from my face,” McCabe said.
Realizing he was now fully revived, McCabe carefully carried the diorama outside and set it near a sunny spot by the shed. The slow worm slithered out and disappeared safely under the shed — back where he belonged.
McCabe was delighted to have helped the little visitor, even if he gave her quite the surprise.
“We’re definitely a family of animal lovers,” she said. “It was lovely to show our son how small acts of kindness can make a big difference — even to the tiniest creatures.”
