A Florida Sheriff's department helped a tortoise reunite with his owners.
An African Spurred Tortoise Who Escaped Its Home in Florida Was Reunited With Its Owners
All's well that ends well for one adorable African spurred tortoise and his family in Florida.
The pet tortoise was missing after its owners briefly left their gate open while having works done on their home. The worried owners had been posting about their lost reptile on social media, posts which eventually led the animal back home.
Members of the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office saw the tortoise wandering about and called in reinforcements before eventually helping the tortoise find a new home in a shelter with other tortoises.
But according to separate Facebook posts, it seems this intrepid animal was able to make it back to his real home within hours.
A St. Lucie County policeman posed with the rescued tortoise in the sanctuary where it was brought.
"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY ON OUR LOCAL FACEBOOK PAGES?" the Sheriff's Office asked in a Facebook post on September 17. "Well, we did too, and this morning, #TEAMSLCSO spotted him in real life, slowly crossing S. 25th Street in the 4600 block, causing quite a stir as cars dodged to avoid him! After safely stopping to help, we discovered this wasn’t just a curious backyard visitor. It was an African Spurred Tortoise, an 80-pound, estimated 30-year-old adventurer who’s clearly been on the move and making headlines in St. Lucie County."
A lost African tortoise was brought to a local sanctuary before being reunited with its owners.
The post continued, "We put some feelers out to local resources, and thankfully, one of our fantastic area shelters stepped up to help. Huge thanks to St. Lucie County Animal Control Officer David Hall, who made the call to the rescue and personally delivered our well-traveled tortoise to his new home. The best part? He’s now off the streets and in the company of some tortoise relatives, safe and sound, and hopefully ready for a less eventful chapter. From local Facebook fame to finding family. What a journey!"
A pet African tortoise was found roaming the streets and was reunited with his family thanks to Facebook.
But the plot thickens. A member of the public posted in a group called Lost & Found Pets of the Treasure Coast about finding the exact same tortoise on September 16. A comment on that post read, "Thank you so much for rescuing our tortoise. We had someone doing work on the house and left the gate open for a short period of time. We were reunited with him today. Thank you again for taking the time to stop."
And a second person with the same last name as the commenter posted in the group PORT ST. LUCIE RECOMMENDATIONS on September 17, "Thank you so much to everyone who helped! We got our tortoise back and are taking him home now."
Gopher tortoises (left) are native to Florida and often found in the wild, while African spurred tortoises (right) are non-native and can be kept as pets.
Tortoise sightings are actually not uncommon at all in Florida; however, the wild tortoises found in the state are gopher tortoises, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The reason it was notable to find this particular pet tortoise roaming the streets of St. Lucie County is because, as you might have gleaned from the name, African spurred tortoises aren't native to the region.