Unfortunately for one turtle in Wuhan, its lifespan had to be cut short abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances.

Poor turtle

According to a report by Ladbible, a Chinese student who was in lockdown for eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic returned to his dormitory only to find his turtle dead.

But don't blame the poor guy though: Lin Buxiu initially thought that he would be away for only a month, so he left the animal enough food to last a couple of weeks.

Little did the 22-year-old know at that time that he would only return to his dorm room eight months later.

On 12 January, Lin packed his bags and went home to Taiyuan for a short winter holiday.

However, he was forced to stay there when China announced a nationwide lockdown during the height of the pandemic.

Unfortunately for his pet turtle, eight months is a little bit too long of a wait.

When he returned to his dorm on 31 August, he found that the alligator snapping turtle had turned to just bone and dust.

The third year student at Wuhan University of Science and Technology shared a video of the poor turtle on social media site Douyin (China's version of TikTok).

Lin revealed that he bought the turtle off e-commerce site Taobao, and only had it for five months before being forced to abandoned it.