A “dangerous” turtle with a jaw strong enough to bite through bone has been found in Cumbria.

Alligator snapping turtles are native to rivers and swamps in Florida, and are recognisable thanks to their armour-like shells, which give them a pre-historic, dinosaur-like appearance.

After a number of sightings of the freshwater reptile, it was retrieved from beside Urswick Tarn by local parish councillor Denise Chamberlain – who put the animal in a shopping basket and took it to a vet.

“It was starting to look quite sorry for itself,” she told The Westmorland Gazette. “I rang various agencies who were unhelpful. Everyone thought it was a terrapin – it’s not.”

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Ms Chamberlain claimed the turtle was dumped by an exotic pet owner who was “no longer able to look after it”.

She urged any owners in similar positions to contact agencies such as the RSPCA rather than dumping animals and hailed the staff at Wild Side Vets in Barrow as “heroes” for dealing with the turtle.

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Alligator snapping turtles are an invasive species which can “easily” bite through bone and “have been known” to sever human fingers, according to the Britannica encyclopaedia.

The turtles are hunters who typically feed on fish, frogs, small mammals and even other turtles. They can grow to 100cm long and weigh up to 90kg.

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