Painted tortoise on mend

Raphael, the spunky gopher tortoise from Lake County who quickly became an Internet sensation last week, is no longer seeing red.

He’s nearly all cleaned up, and his shell is back to its normal camouflage color, after someone spray-painted him with red paint.

On Friday, the star reptile spent the day plodding around the grounds at Swamp Girl Adventures, an Osceola County animal-rescue facility that cleaned off the paint from the animal’s back.

“He’s obviously trying to find where his home is,” said Kim Titterington, director of Swamp Girl Adventures. “He’s curious about his new environment, but he’s sleeping soundly a good part of the time. And that’s good.”

Named after a member of the fictional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a red eye mask, Raphael became famous after a Lake County couple returning home from church on Sunday did a double take when they noticed a small red object slowly crossing County Road 455 just south of the town of Montverde.

It was Raphael, and he was doused from head to tail in red. His limbs also were covered in concrete.

The good Samaritans pulled over, picked up Raphael and drove him to Swamp Girl Adventure, a nonprofit facility that works with the Central Florida Wildlife Center in Okeechobee rehabilitating turtles, tortoises and reptiles.

SWAMP GIRL ADVENTURES/COURTESY The young gopher tortoise that was rescued last week gets a cleaning.