Tortoise found creeping along motorway 3,500 miles from home

Meet the tortoise found creeping along a motorway - more than 3,500 miles from home. The hard-shelled herbivore had navigated six lanes of rush-hour traffic in his quest to find a mate.

Motorist John Formby spotted the creature, bought him a lunch of lettuce and tomatoes and then took him to a vets.

It was then that staff checked a microchip and found the tortoise was registered to an address in the USA.



The animal was found crawling along the slip road of the M23 in Sussex near junction 7 at about 5.15pm on Wednesday.

Mr Formby dropped the Hermann’s tortoise off to the Grove Lodge Animal Sanctuary in Worthing.

Rescuers said despite his long quest for freedom, the animal was in a good condition.