Tortoise reunited Putnam County deputies said they noticed an unusual-looking tortoise attempting to cross State Road 20 in Interlachen this week. Within days, a Facebook post helped reunite the tortoise with its owner three years after it went missing. (Putnam County Sheriff's Office)
PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Why did the tortoise cross the road? In this case, so that deputies would notice her and help take her home after three years on the lam.
Putnam County deputies said they noticed an unusual-looking tortoise attempting to cross State Road 20 in Interlachen this week. Within days, a Facebook post helped reunite the tortoise with its owner three years after it went missing.
Some research helped deputies learn that their new shell-dwelling friend was an African Sulcata tortoise native to the Sahara Desert.
“He is definitely someone’s tortoise as he likes people and head pats,” deputies said in a Facebook post.
Deputies said wildlife experts at Florida’s Wildest Animal Refuge agreed to take in the tortoise and said they are known escape artists and can dig out of their enclosures.
The Facebook post about the found tortoise garnered more than 300 shares, and luckily one of them reached the tortoise’s owner who hadn’t seen the tortoise in three years.
“With all the shares the owner reached out with her own posts from when her tortoise went missing,” deputies said. “The tortoise was found not far from where he went missing but with a few cold winters she’s in a little rough shape.”
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
National Pumpkin Day The theme park’s animal nutritionists prepare customized diets every day for more than 5,000 birds, mammals, reptiles and fish across Walt Disney World from humongous hippos to the smallest spiders. (Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World)
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Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.
