A turtle learned the hard way last week that sometimes home is not always where the shell is.
The tiny creature was found Tuesday afternoon on a Providence/Stoughton commuter train at South Station.
“We thought it was lost, but found out it was abandoned. We’re looking for a good home,” Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company Spokeswoman Rhiannon D’Angelo said last week.
Although nobody came to claim “Choo Choo” at the South Station Lost and Found, a little help from Twitter prompted offers from about 50 of animal lovers who wanted to take the reptile in, but on Friday, the turtle was given to a science teacher from Mary Lyon School in Brighton.
“We’re happy to report that (Choo Choo) was picked up, and is going to a science classroom to live among other reptiles,” D’Angelo said, adding that in the search for a new home, the MBCR reached out to officials at the New England Aquarium, who said that it is not uncommon for reptile owners to put out the scaly and shelled creatures.
“Apparently (reptiles) are hard to care for, so people often try to release them into the wild,” D’Angelo said, adding that it is uncommon for a creature to show up unattended on the commuter trains.
“It was definitely a rare event. Of course it’s sad that (Choo Choo) was left there, but we were happy to help make sure he was safe for a couple of days.”
D’Angelo said it was unclear how the animal picked up his locomotive-inspired name last week, but said it picked up steam as he was being cared for by transit employees.
“We were calling him Choo Cho, as in choo-choo train.”
There is no word on if the animal will keep his new name.
