A tortoise which lost its legs in an attack by a wild animal is now on the road to recovery - literally.

Thanks to specialist vets in Snodland, 20-year-old Harriet has been fitted with a set of wheels so she can get about.

Sandhole Veterinary Surgery in Malling Road - reptile rehabilitation specialists for the south east - used the wheels from a children’s toy bus to give her some wheely good mobility after her back legs had to be amputated.

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It is thought rats may have savaged her while she was in her owners’ back garden.

Exotics vet Nicky Taylor amputated her legs and six days later attached the wheels to her shell with resin.

It was an anxious time for owners Richard and Jane Berrow, who have had her for 10 years.

Video: Harriet gets her wheels - Graham Stothard reports

Mr Berrow said: “I didn’t really hold out much hope for her when we took her to the vets initially. If she was going to survive, the wheels were her only option.

“But she is doing really well on them.”

“She is quite a character. She’s doing really well and has become quite bionic on the wheels.

Travelling on grass can be a bit of a bumpy ride, but trundling along the garden path is no problem.

It was a first for Miss Taylor, although the procedure has been done before elsewhere.

She said: “Her injuries were very severe and very painful; she was covered in fly eggs and maggots. Luckily the owner found her when they did as if she had been left any longer the outcome would have been very different.

“She didn’t need to be sedated to attach the wheels as it was on the shell not on the tissue. She was a star patient.”

Harriet has already been back for a check-up and she will need to have new wheels regularly, both due to wear and tear and also if she grows.

The vets has a special interest in exotic species and the equipment needed for reptile anaesthesia and hospitalisation, which few veterinary practices have.