Non-Native Tortoise Apprehended Out For-A-Walk

Just couldn't pass this up: all's well that ends well, huh?

'Slow News' Day As Mesa Officials Find 150-Pound Tortoise

Mesa officials turned the 150-pound African sulcata tortoise over to the Game and Fish Department who found the tortoise's owner.

By Colin Miner, Patch Staff | Jan 8, 2018 10:24 am ET

MESA, AZ – It was a slow news day in Mesa as city officials found a tortoise making its way along a canal. It was found Sunday morning by Broadway Road and 24th Street.
City officials say that the tortoise – which has since been identified as an African sulcata tortoise – weighed in at about 150 pounds.
It was too big to fit into the city's animal control truck so a wildlife refuge group was called to help.
They responded with a bigger truck and turned the animal over to the state's Fish and Game Department.
Officials there, in turn, found the tortoise's rightful owner . . . No word on how the tortoise escaped.

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FYI:

The African spurred tortoise, also called the sulcata tortoise, is a species of tortoise, which inhabits the southern edge of the Sahara desert, in Africa. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Centrochelys sulcata

Mass: 70 – 100 lbs (Adult)

Conservation status: Vulnerable Encyclopedia of Life

Higher classification: Geochelone

Kingdom: Animalia

Did you know: Sulcata tortoise is native to the Sahara desert and the Sahel. allturtles