WYFF (Greenville, S Carolina) 16 June 04 Police Scour Spartanburg For Stolen Tortoises - Investigators Say They Disappeared Monday
Spartanburg: Investigators in Spartanburg are searching for a group of foreign visitors that disappeared Monday.
They're a quartet of tortoises. Two are from South America and the other two are from India. They came to the Spartanburg Arts Center about 10 years ago.
Police said someone crawled under a gate at the center and removed the animals.
"When something is taken and it's not available for the community to go out and view them, then it's the enitre community's loss," said Spartanburg Police Captain Billy Norris.
Center employees are also worried about the tortoises health.
"They have to be fed a diet of greens and cucumbers and tomatoes," said Science Center Executive Director John Green. "It's fine as long as somebody feeds them or if they're not hit by a car."
There is some good news, however.
"I was weirded out," Andrea Marmolino said. "We were coming home to feed the dog and I went upstairs and my mom started screaming that she found a turtle in the yard."
It was one of the tortoises. The Marmolinos returned the animal to the arts center.
Investigators hope the remaining trio of tortoises won't be far behind.
Police Scour Spartanburg For Stolen Tortoises