BANNER-HERALD (Athens, Georgia) 19 September 13 Zip the wandering tortoise found crossing a road (Wayne Ford)
Zip the tortoise was crossing a country road Thursday afternoon when his slow adventure ended.
The African-breed of tortoise was on the loose after escaping from his owners’ yard in Carlton last Friday night, which prompted the owners to begin a search that included hiring a professional tracker and his dogs.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Zip owner Susan Fisher said about his safe return.
Zip had traveled about a half-mile through the woods from the Fisher’s home in Carlton and was crossing Lexington Carlton Road when a motorist spotted the tortoise, which weighs in at about 50 pounds.
Miranda Mendenhall, a physical therapist from Athens, was traveling to make a home visit when she said she saw a logging truck swerve around something in the roadway.
“From far away, I thought it was a bag of trash in the middle of the road,” she said, adding that she actually drove down the road about a mile before she decided to call 911.
“I was in shock. You don’t usually see a turtle that big, so I called 911,” she said.
Mendenhall said she had not seen the news coverage about Zip, nor had she seen the fliers posted around Carlton offering a reward for Zip’s return.
“I thought it was a wild turtle,” she said.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office sent a deputy to the scene and he and Mendenhall waited until Susan’s husband Kerry arrived to get Zip, who is believed to have escaped his fenced-in yard in search of a mate.
Zip just sat quietly on the side of the road.
“I never saw it move once,” Mendenhall said with a chuckle.
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