When Margaret Parker and her daughter Lorraine spotted a lone wandering tortoise in their garden, they rushed to its aid, fearing the worst.
They approached it with caution, being careful not to frighten it off, but when they saw that it wasn’t moving, they decided they best go for supplies, stockpiling lettuce and tomato.
They returned with the tortoises meal, finding it stood motionless in exactly the same spot and attempted to feed it. The animal refused to eat however and stayed perfectly still. This worried the Parkers, who became concerned that it may be ill, injured or simply scared stiff. They contacted the Knoxwood Wildlife Rescue Centre, near Wigton, Cumbria to ask for help.
Rescue volunteer Pauline Adams arrived on the scene, prepared to save the day. Her first action was the discovery that the tortoise was not real.
“I was worried it might have died,’ said Mrs Parker, 67. ‘But then the lady from Knoxwood looked at it, picked it up and turned it over. She said: ‘It’s not dead, it’s ceramic.’ I was so shocked because it looked real.””My daughter was trying to tempt it with the lettuce and the tomato but I did wonder why it wasn’t moving its head, and decided it was probably just frightened.””It was about the same weight as a real tortoise, but when she picked it up and looked underneath there was writing on the bottom: Made in China.”Knoxwood founder George Scott praised Mrs Parker, saying: “She was embarrassed but she did do the right thing by getting in touch. A lot of these ceramic animal models can be very convincing.”
Of course he was just being polite. Mrs Parker has taken the tortoise to be placed in a garden at Carlisle Cemetery in memory of her late husband Ronnie.
By Lewis Roe
@CrackingAce
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