A 15-year-old African spurred tortoise named Molly was found two weeks after escaping from her owner’s home in Manitoba, according to UPI Odd News.
The tortoise turned up at Oak Hammock Marsh nature preserve after staff received several reports of a strange animal on the property. At first, employees thought people might be seeing a snapping turtle or even mistaking another object for an animal, since tortoises are not native to Canada.
Nature interpreter Gillian Malchuk told CTV News that a visitor’s photo confirmed the animal was an African spurred tortoise, a species native to the Sahara Desert. Preserve staff then searched for two days before Molly was found in the parking lot.
Malchuk took the tortoise home until the owner could be identified. She said Molly had been missing for two weeks and was found about 12.4 miles from the home she escaped from.
Malchuk said it is possible Molly made the journey on her own, though she also suggested someone may have picked her up and brought her to the preserve after seeing her near a highway, not realizing it was not a suitable habitat.
