Family reunited with pet tortoise (From Gazette)

Family reunited with pet tortoise

12:00am Saturday 7th March 2009 in

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A FAMILY has been reunited with its pet tortoise, which was rescued from a rubbish lorry.

Fred was plucked from the lorry’s compactor by sharp-eyed binman Shaun Wilson, who handed him to the RSPCA.

The 30-year-old reptile is believed to have woken early from hibernation and broke into a rubbish bag in the hunt for food.

Rebecca Dowling, of Hakewill Way, Mile End, Colchester, claimed back her daughter Meghan’s pet after reading of his lucky escape in the Gazette.

Rebecca said: “We last saw him in October when he went into hibernation in his little house and wouldn’t expect him this early.

“We fill his house with hay so when he emerges he spreads it about and we know to look out for him, but he must have got out without making a mess.”

Meghan, eight, was in tears when her mum told her Fred was missing, but word of his disappearance was kept from siblings Callum, seven, and Freya, three.