Tortoise saved from rubbish dump

Fred was only hours away from being buried along with the rubbish

A 30-year-old tortoise unwittingly sent to a landfill site with its owner's rubbish has been found alive.

Fred, owned by Jane Deslandes from Margate in Kent, climbed into a bin bag and was taken to the Canterbury site by refuse collectors on Wednesday morning.

When Mrs Deslandes realised what had happened at midday, she phoned Thanet Council and the landfill site and was allowed to look through the rubbish.

She did not find Fred, but he was rescued later that day by site workers.

Mrs Deslandes said she could not have lived with herself if Fred had not been found.

'Totally amazed'

"When we got to the site it was absolutely awful there, I thought we haven't got a hope and I cried my eyes out," she said.

"The manager said they would look through all the bags but if they didn't find Fred by five o'clock they'd have to bury all that rubbish.

"So we left and I cried all the way home, but I was almost back in Margate when I got a call from my husband and he said they'd found Fred alive.

"I was totally amazed, I just could not believe our luck," she added.

Fred was taken to the vet's for an injection and is now back in Mrs Deslandes' garden.