Pet Has Shell And Will Travel

Pets come in all shapes and sizes.  Some have four legs.  Some have no legs.  And, a few of them have a shell and weigh in at 65 pounds.  The News On 6's Rick Wells reports a tortoise named Winnie is a willful wanderer.  She spent a few nights in a neighbor's back yard, but is home now safe and sound.

Winnie is a 10-year-old African Spur Thigh Tortoise. Spur Thigh comes from those barb like things on her legs.  Winnie likes to wander and snack and wander some more.

A week or so ago she wandered off after apparently someone left the gate open, and Winnie took advantage by heading across the neighbor's driveway and up the street.

"I'm walking around wringing my hands and crying like a baby," said Norma Vesley.

After all, she's had Winnie since she was not much bigger than a half dollar.  In an effort to get Winnie returned, they printed up some flyers and spread them around the neighborhood.  They knocked on doors, and finally, good news.

"The woman said, ‘I don't have your turtle but I know somebody who knows about her,'" said Norma Vesley.

Now, Winnie is back where she belongs, roaming room to room.  She is, after all, an inside turtle.

She's got the run of the house, but Norma says Winnie likes to sleep under the coffee table in the den.  She eats a steady diet of romaine lettuce and she's house broken.

"As long as I put her out first thing in the morning she's OK till the next morning," said Norma Vesley.

From her home office, Norma can watch Winnie when she's in the back yard, but that gate she escaped through now gets checked regularly.  But, a tortoise must have a memory like an elephant, she knows the escape route.

So if you see Winnie out wandering, just call the number on her shell and they'll come pick her up.

In captivity, tortoises like Winnie can live to be 50 or more years old.  In the wild they can live to be 100.  If the times comes, Norma says she plans to will her beloved Winnie to the grandson who gave it to her.