A TERRAPIN that was dumped in a pond at a nature reserve in north Dorset was rescued by a council ranger.

The red-eared slider was discovered at Butts Pond Meadows in Sturminster Newton by a member of the public.

Ranger Stuart Caldwell was called out to rescue the reptile, which would have posed a threat to the pond’s population of great crested newts.

“When they enter a pond they are top of the food chain – no native species is capable of taking them on so they eat everything in sight,” he said.

“They are usually to be found in the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf of Mexico but were very popular as pets in the 1990s due to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. They can grow to the size of a dinner plate and be quite aggressive.

“An owner getting rid of it is the only way it could have got there. They are usually kept in tanks in a house and, sadly, sometimes when they get too big for the tank or too much to handle they are thrown out.”

The terrapin is now living with a Dorset Council ranger.