Sid's surprise lunchtime companion

LOST: Times-Age intern Ted Kenton holds the turtle found in Greytown.

A turtle wandering across a road in Greytown was the last thing a builder expected to see while he was taking his lunch break on Monday.

Sid Taylor, who works for Pope & Gray, had been driving along Kuratawhiti St when he spotted something in the middle of the road.

"I was thinking it was a kid's toy to start with but then it moved. I wondered what the hell it was. So I picked it up and took it back to the yard and had lunch with it. We tried to feed it but it didn't have a very good appetite so I dropped it off to Vetcare so it was in better hands then ours."

Senior vet nurse Emma Shilcock said Mr Taylor had come into the store around 1.30pm with something wrapped inside his beanie.

"I wasn't expecting a turtle. He just bought it in and we said we can take care of it."

Miss Shilcock said she was unsure of the turtle's sex and thought it was probably quite old, judging by its size.

She had fed the turtle, which appeared to be in good health, and had checked through her records for customers who had bought turtle food.