Grandmother Jackie Leek has struck up a remarkable bond with a giant tortoise which she takes everywhere with her – including down the pub.
Jackie, 58, first bought the African sulcata tortoise she calls Mr. Miyagi for company when recovering from cancer 18 months ago.
Since then the pair have become inseparable and she has taken the 8-year-old tortoise on holiday in her caravan and for regular strolls on the beach.
He weighs around 42 pounds and is expected to be around 139 pounds when he gets older.
And because he could live to be 120 she has even set up a trust fund to look after him when she has gone.
Despite his large size, Jackie takes him everywhere she can and says people often “abandon their cars” to stop and ask for a picture of Mr. Miyagi.
She said: “I open the door and he just follows me down the drive and onto the estate, where we live.
“He will just follow me and we have little walks.
“People will abandon their cars when they see us, they will stop and ask if he’s real and if they can touch him.
“I take him to the beach and there’s a little quiet bit where I take him.
“But I went there on a bank holiday Monday and before I knew it, we were surrounded by people and everyone was having a photo shoot with him – it was mad.
“People always do double turns, I once had eight cars all stop in the road and everyone got out of their vehicles.
“People also can’t believe how heavy he is.”
Jackie was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow, and breast cancer around four years ago.
After having radiotherapy, she would feel lonely so decided to go to the pet shop, where she purchased a tortoise called Thor.
Jackie would often walk Thor in a pram but he tragically died three years after she first bought him.
The mom-of-two then decided to rescue Mr. Miyagi, who was originally called Arthur Pendragon, but she “never” considered getting one as a pet before she got Thor.
Jackie, of Warrington, Cheshire, said: “I never had an interest in reptiles or tortoises ever – I’m terrified of snakes.
“I never thought I would get a tortoise.
“He helps me loads, I do have some dark days.
“I’m getting stronger after my diagnosis but Mr. Miyagi is helping me.
“I couldn’t go back to work because of my immune system and I have to watch where I go and what I do, so he’s a massive part of my life.
“He gives me a purpose and when I’m crying, he sits there and I talk to him.”
Mr. Miyagi loves eating romaine lettuce and dandelions, and he sometimes has green beans, strawberries and tomatoes as a treat.
He also enjoys sitting in a children’s sand pit, that’s been filled up with water, but has been known to “re-arrange the furniture” when Jackie has left her house.
Jackie, a former nurse said: “He takes himself off to bed at around 5pm and he will sleep until 8am unless I get up and he hears me in the kitchen.
“Before I do anything, I get a children’s sand pit and he stands next to me while I fill it with hot water and my partner lifts him into the bath.
“He can be there anytime from ten minutes to three hours and I just keep warming it up and he will poo in there, because that’s what they do.
“He will let me know when he’s had enough and he will then go in the garden or he will climb in his dog bed.
“He’s dead gentle and will sit on my slippers.
“If we leave him alone in the house, then you think we would have been burgled because he re-arranges the furniture.”
Jackie says that weirdly, Mr. Miyagi hates the color black and will “ram her black mop bucket around the house” in protest.
The grandmother-of-two said: “He doesn’t like the color black, I don’t know what exactly it is.
“My mop bucket is black and he will ram it around the house.
“We have a Christmas tree in a garden, that’s in a black pot, and I don’t know how he moves the tree around the garden.
“He will ram the pot – he doesn’t like anything black.
“I once put a black tool box down on the floor and the next minute I knew, he was ramming it.”
African sulcata tortoises often live until they are 120 years old, but some have been known to survive for even longer.
Jackie has a trust fund set up for Mr. Miyagi, so whoever takes care of him after she dies, will be able to afford it.
She said: “I’ve made plans for when I’m not here so my partner will keep him for as long as he can.
“After that, I’m hoping my daughter will take him and I’ve left money with him because they aren’t cheap and has the best insurance and the best vets.
“If my daughter can’t have him or thinks that she doesn’t want him, then my partner has two sons so I’m hoping they could even have him.
“If not, I’m sure there will be a home for him somewhere but you just don’t know.”
