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Hitchhiking Tortoise Found, Appeal Gone Out To Find Owners

Julia Dent Contributor
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A tortoise was found in the back of a truck after it traveled almost 300 miles from Devon to Norfolk in the United Kingdom, The Independent reports. Workers at a paper recycling plant found it buried under a pile of newspapers that were about to be pulped, and think it must have been picked up at a recycling depot in Silverman, Devon.

“It would appear that the tortoise must have been hibernating in a black box among paper put out for recycling,” A Mid Devon council spokesman said.

“It would have been collected by our recycling team, tipped into a lorry, brought back to the depot and then tipped into a paper bay where it would have stayed for a day or two before being loaded into a lorry — a drop of about six meters — and then traveled to King’s Lynn — a distance of 270 miles.”

The tortoise is being looked after and appears to be doing well, and the owners are now being searched for.

“Following its big adventure, we are happy to say that the tortoise is alive and very well and currently being cared for by one of the mill workers in King’s Lynn,” the spokesman said. “We would really like to be able to complete the journey of this intrepid tortoise, which we think is a ‘she,’ by returning it to its owner.”