Tortoise, 53, looking for good home after owner dies of COVID-19

BOSTON — Wanted: Loving home for a middle-age tortoise that loves fruit salad, dandelions and sunshine.

MSPCA-Angell, a Boston animal welfare organization, has put a 53-year-old tortoise named Ms. Jennifer up for adoption because the owner recently died of COVID-19.

She is likely the oldest animal the organization has ever offered for adoption, spokesman Rob Halpin said in a statement Thursday.

Ms. Jennifer weighs four pounds and is about the size of a dinner plate. Anyone interested in adopting her has to be in it for the long haul, because tortoises can live to be 100 or older, the organization said.

The tortoise is the 10th animal to be surrendered to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals whose owners have either died of COVID-19 or become too ill to care for their pets.

“Like we do for every animal in our charge, we’ll take the best possible care of Ms. Jennifer until we find her a suitable adoptive home,” Victoria Odynsky, manager of MSPCA-Angell’s adoption center, said in a statement.

Ms. Jennifer celebrated her 53rd birthday this week with a dandelion cake.