Family stunned to find their pet Joey the tortoise is actually a girl after 95 YEARS
A PET tortoise thought to be a boy for 95 years turned out to be a girl.
Joey finally came out of her shell at a vet’s examination shortly before her death from a stomach tumour last week.
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The African spurred tortoise was bought from high street chain Woolworths in 1930 by Louise Dimmock, as a gift for son Alan.
Joey spent the next nine decades being passed down through the family — ending up with Alan’s granddaughter Lorraine Steward.
The cabin crew trainee, 43, said: “We always thought he was a boy until we took him to the vets to be examined before his death.
“We knew something was wrong as he wasn’t taking his food.
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“He had never needed to go to the vet before and it’s difficult to check the gender. They were stunned he had done so well.
“They were examining him and revealed, ‘I’m led to believe he’s actually a girl’.
“We couldn’t believe it. Maybe he was more of a Josephine than a Joey all this time. But after knowing him as a boy for 95 years, we’re not going to change now.”
Joey, who ate lettuce and strawberries, was well-known among locals in Whitwell, Herts.
Lorraine added: “We will all miss him greatly. He lived a simple life. He was very low maintenance and happy as anything.”
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OVER her 95 years Joey never strayed any further than her home village, even surviving a German shell landing in the garden during World War Two.
She also lived through:
- Twenty-one prime ministers.
- Five monarchs, stretching back to George V, left.
- Sixteen Presidents of the US.
- Nine popes.
- World War Two.
- Twenty-one England football managers — and one World Cup victory.
- And 22 Olympics.