Enormous six-stone tortoise spotted wandering down motorway after escaping home

A huge six-stone tortoise was spotted slowly making her way alongside a major motorway after she escaped from home.

She might not have had speed on her side, but it didn't stop her from setting off from Arkansas, in the US.

Named Potato, the Sulcata tortoise was discovered next to Interstate 40 on Sunday after breaking free from her enclosure, according to her owner Chelsea Hattaway.

Chelsea told local TV station KLRT : "I was just hoping she hadn't been hit by a car."

It is the third time Potato, who weighed just 25 lbs when she was adopted nine years ago, has been found outside her home in Little Rock.

Chelsea Hattaway joked that her pet had a new hobby now (FOX16)

"She had never escaped in the nine years we had her but now this is her third escape," Chelsea explained, as she joked Potato "has a new hobby".

The tortoise, now aged 14, first tasted freedom around a month ago when she crawled three doors down from the home of Chelsea's parents, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

She has since developed a taste for the open road.

Potato was then found on a driveway and returned to her family, but made another break for freedom on Thursday when she pushed through a gate on the Hattaways' property.

It prompted a search of the local neighbourhood with signs erected asking people to look out for her.

"I know that's something you don't expect to hear when there's a knock on your door, 'Hey, have you seen an 85-lb. tortoise running around?'" Chelsea told KLRT.

Signs were put up in the neighbourhood telling people to look out for her (FOX16)

Potato was returned to her owner on Sunday after being found by a neighbour.

But on this occasion she tried to cross an overpass above Interstate 40.

In her third escape, just hours after being put back in her enclosure, Chelsea told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette she received a call from the Arkansas State Police to inform her at Potato was found alongside the busy motorway again.

"She had to have just made a beeline for the highway," Chelsea said.

Potato the Sulcata tortoise a 'run' from home in Little Rock, Arkansas (FOX16)

"The dispatcher had seen it on Facebook so she knew there was a tortoise at large.

"When I got there, there were already three cars that had stopped."

Chelsea's gates have since been secured to prevent another road trip.

Potato's adventures had attracted lot of fans, Chelsea said.

She added: "She's got a lot of friends. She's got a following at this point."