Escaped Tortoise Missing for Over 3 Years in Florida Is Found Just 3 Miles From Her Home

Escaped Tortoise Missing for Over 3 Years in Florida Is Found Just 3 Miles From Her Home
Left: Courtesy of Putnam County Sheriff's Office; Right: Courtesy of Florida’s Wildest Animal Rescue
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A tortoise that went missing from the yard of her Florida home in 2020 has been reunited with her owner over three years later, after being found just 3 miles away.

African sulcata tortoise Ty was found near the intersection of Cotton Lane and SR 20 in Hawthorne, Florida, by a local resident on Oct. 21 and was collected by deputies from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). The deputies’ curiosity was peaked by Ty’s large size and ridged shell that was different from the smooth-shelled gopher tortoises native to the area.