Did you spot tortoise Macy enjoying life in the fast lane?

A DANDELION-MUNCHING tortoise turned a few heads this week when she was spotted, being transported on a dolly trolley through a Tallaght housing estate, to a hot-spot for the popular plant.

Macy is a large, sulcata tortoise that calls Gleann Na Smol in Old Bawn home – she has become somewhat of a local celebrity after her latest antics.

This week, the tortoise, who is around 18 to 20 years-old, was in the mood for a munch and managed to cajole her owners Emily Rankin and Ian Fannin to bring her on an adventure.

“I wanted to bring her to the field where the red swing is between Gleann Na Smol and Old Bawn Avenue because she absolutely loves dandelions and there’s loads in that field,” Emily tells The Echo.

“We were going to walk but she’s so big, I didn’t really know how to transport her there.

“Then I spotted a dolly trolley in work and they said I could borrow it anytime she wanted to go on a walk.

Macy, the tortoise, makes a dash for dandelions as owner Emily Rankin watches on

“The neighbours all loved it.

“One of the women was offering her some strawberries and we had a few turned heads, people had to look twice because they couldn’t believe the size of her.

“We had a few out getting pictures with her or people out walking their dogs wondering if she was even real as well. It was really lovely.”

Home for Macy with Emily’s mother, where she has a life of luxury “basking in the sun” or tucking herself away in a little hole that she’s burrowed for herself in the garden.

When she gets bored with that, the sulcata tortoise will just mosey on into the house and into her own wood-built home.

Sulcata tortoises are the third-largest species of tortoise, can grow to around 100kg, and live to be more than 70 years old in some cases.

As for Macy, having started off as a 3-inch hatchling, she is believed to be around 20-25kg today and is coming to the end of the growing phase in her life.

Where will Macy be spotted next? Keep your eyes peeled.