A KIND-HEARTED couple who have taken in a lost tortoise wandering near their home are appealing for its owner to come forward.

Kim Dance and her husband were at home on Sunday afternoon when a stranger knocked at the door to say they had found a tortoise near their home.

The tortoise, who the pair believe to be male, was found between the ginnel of Rake Lane and Victoria Road in Ulverston.

Mrs Dance brought the lost reptile into their garden while the search continued for his owner.

She said: “The guy asked if it was ours and we looked at it and said what do we do? We have a big garden and decided to take the tortoise in.

“We’ve not dealt with anything like this before. As far as know, no-one owns a tortoise in the ginnel so we’re not sure where it’s came from.

“We put some water out for it and put some food out. We did a bit of online research to find out what they like to eat.

“He’s quite friendly. I read online that they really like being stroked on the shell which seemed to work.

“Because it was so hot at the weekend he was trying to find somewhere cool so sat under the kitchen window and stayed there all night.”

Mrs Dance took to social media to appeal for the tortoise’s owners but received no claims for the shelled animal.

She said: “I put out a shoutout on Facebook to see if anyone would come forward. It’s a big tortoise – you’d definitely notice if it went missing. We were expecting to wake up and someone say ‘you’ve found it!’ but we’ve had nothing.

“We don’t know if he walked away from where he was living or, sadly, he might’ve been pinched – we just don’t know.

“If no-one comes forward, we will keep him. He’s not doing damage to anything and he can’t escape in the garden.”

The tortoise measures around 12 inches long and eight inches wide and weighs an estimated one and a half kilogrammes. His shell is a yellow and grey colour.

Contact our Facebook page if you believe the tortoise is yours.