A tortoise has been reunited with her owners after being found wandering down the middle of a busy A-road – two miles away.
The large reptile, named Summer, was crawling along the tarmac when she was spotted by a family in a passing car.
They took her home and asked a local vet to see if she was microchipped, before launching a social media appeal to find her owners.
Incredibly, it emerged Summer, who is around a metre-long, had managed to travel around two miles from her home to where she was picked up.
Niki Murphy, who found her, said that although Summer’s owners were thrilled to have her back she had a fight on her hands to convince her own children to part company with her.
She said: “We were a bit wary of just handing her over to anyone, but the real owners seemed genuine.
“She was actually one of three and she escaped by pushing up against her gate.
“They were very grateful. The little girl came running over really excited to see her home.
“My kids really wanted to keep her though. We already have a cat, dog and nine chickens so they thought a huge tortoise would just add to the chaos.
“I had to explain that we needed to find the owners as they will be missing her and how would they feel if we lost one of our pets, and they were then really happy she was returned.
“The owners said we can go and see their three tortoises whenever we want.”
Niki and her husband Glen found Summer on the A414 in Ingatestone, Essex, last Friday (28/10).
Nikki added: “It was a massive shock as she was so huge.”
