Hello fellow tortoise enthusiasts ,
I have joined this forum as my brother's family in Devon own a 6 year old tortoise named Sebastian, and recently had a very worrying few days .
Somehow their tortoise managed to escape from their garden and went missing for 6 days . My brother's family were understandably so very upset, and put dozens of posters all around the village and neighbouring areas, put flyers through scores of letter boxes and did everything they could to get the message out to anyone who might have found him . They live on quite a busy main road into Exeter, and were horrified by the idea of Sebastian getting run over, and were constantly on the lookout for any trace of an unfortunate accident .
I must add that the owners had taken perimeter security of their garden seriously with walling and fencing all around, and it is still unknown how Sebastian had managed to escape .
Eventually, after 6 days, and after leafleting farther afield, they received a phone call from an elderly couple who lived in a village 1.2 miles from their house to say they had found Sebastian a couple of days earlier . You can imagine the sense of joy and relief they all felt to get their dear pet tortoise home. Somehow, Sebastian had escaped from the garden and wandered 1.2 miles down this busy arterial road, and the couple had found him in the middle of the road !
It is quite remarkable that he didn't get run over in 4 days , and that he had managed to travel so far .
Do any other forum members have any stories of similar escape and repatriation stories?
Do any other forum members have tips on how to identify your pet tortoise in case he should escape? My brother is even considering attaching a form of tiny GPS tracking device to they can find him should he ever escape again . They have acres of open field and farmland around their house, so searching on foot would be a very difficult task .
I look forward to replies from anyone with similar stories .
I wonder what is the furthest distance a tortoise has gone walkabout from home ?!!
I have joined this forum as my brother's family in Devon own a 6 year old tortoise named Sebastian, and recently had a very worrying few days .
Somehow their tortoise managed to escape from their garden and went missing for 6 days . My brother's family were understandably so very upset, and put dozens of posters all around the village and neighbouring areas, put flyers through scores of letter boxes and did everything they could to get the message out to anyone who might have found him . They live on quite a busy main road into Exeter, and were horrified by the idea of Sebastian getting run over, and were constantly on the lookout for any trace of an unfortunate accident .
I must add that the owners had taken perimeter security of their garden seriously with walling and fencing all around, and it is still unknown how Sebastian had managed to escape .
Eventually, after 6 days, and after leafleting farther afield, they received a phone call from an elderly couple who lived in a village 1.2 miles from their house to say they had found Sebastian a couple of days earlier . You can imagine the sense of joy and relief they all felt to get their dear pet tortoise home. Somehow, Sebastian had escaped from the garden and wandered 1.2 miles down this busy arterial road, and the couple had found him in the middle of the road !
It is quite remarkable that he didn't get run over in 4 days , and that he had managed to travel so far .
Do any other forum members have any stories of similar escape and repatriation stories?
Do any other forum members have tips on how to identify your pet tortoise in case he should escape? My brother is even considering attaching a form of tiny GPS tracking device to they can find him should he ever escape again . They have acres of open field and farmland around their house, so searching on foot would be a very difficult task .
I look forward to replies from anyone with similar stories .
I wonder what is the furthest distance a tortoise has gone walkabout from home ?!!