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Pee-wee the tortoise found by recycling centre workers

10 hours ago


Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC A tortoise looking directly into the camera and looking content and happy with himself. He is being held up by Mr and Mrs Frost. Mr Frost is smiling and wearing a blue fleece and Mrs Frost is also smiling, wears glasses with brown hair, a fringe and a cheetah-print top.Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC

It is thought the tortoise arrived at the Mid-UK Recycling Centre in Grantham on a lorry and was found by workers sorting through the rubbish

A tortoise has lived to see another day after it arrived in a waste lorry and went through an entire sorting process at a recycling centre.

Paul Frost, 41, who works at Mid-UK Recycling Centre in Grantham, said he is “surprised it’s alive” after a colleague found it amongst the waste on a picking line.

The animal had arrived on a 22-tonne lorry full of rubbish, scooped up in a digger and was then put through a sorting process including a glass-smashing machine.

Mr Frost took the tortoise to Kirk Vets in Sleaford, where he was affectionally named Pee-wee by staff after the 1980s film character, Pee-Wee Herman.

Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC The tortoise sat on a black table looking at the camera with his two front arms touching the table with his claws. He has tones of brown, black and yellow on his body and shell in different shapes.Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC

The vet who treated the tortoise named him “Pee-wee” as they think he could be from the Hermann’s species

Mr Frost said the tortoise initially had “blood all over it” and described finding Pee-wee as “quite scary”.

“The stuff it’s gone through to somebody finding it on the line, I’m surprised it’s alive still,” he said.

His wife, Louise Frost, 38, said her husband is already known at work as “Dr Dolittle” after he found three kittens and took them home last year.

Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC Sara Marchant holding the tortoise and smiling into the camera. She has long blonde hair and is wearing a blue fleece with the Kirk Vets logo on it.Sarah-May Buccieri/BBC

Sara Marchant from Kirk Vets said Pee-wee is “fit, well and healthy” despite his ordeal

Sara Marchant, 55, practice manager at Kirks Vets in Sleaford, said the Pee-wee is a “very, very lucky tortoise”.

“I think he’s literally gone through the ringer,” she said.

The recycling centre takes in waste from across the UK and the tortoise has a microchip that is not registered to a location.

“We’re at a bit of a blank as to where he has come from. He could have come from anywhere in the country,” Mrs Marchant said.

‘Lucky boy’

Apart from some damage to his shell, Mrs Marchant said Pee-wee “appears to be fit, well and healthy”.

“He must have 20 lives. He’s been bounced around, shaken, mangled and he’s still made it through in one piece.

“I think he’s a lucky boy”, she said.

Mr and Mrs Frost told the BBC they are going to wait to see if the owner comes forward and, if not, they will be welcoming Pee-wee the tortoise into their own family.

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