Thursday, August 09, 2007
Mill Mountain Zoo's tortoise makes a 'run' for it
After a seven-hour retreat, the mountain tortoise was found near its pen.
Stephanie Klein-Davis
A Burmese mountain tortoise went missing at the Mill Mountain Zoo on Wednesday but was later found outside its enclosure in the zoo.
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The Burmese mountain tortoise went missing before noon, then mysteriously reappeared in the evening.
And while questions swirl about what Mill Mountain Zoo's errant tortoise did during his seven hours of freedom Wednesday, it's doubtful that he did it quickly.
"We don't know what happened," Sean Greene, the zoo's director, concluded after the rare tortoise turned up shortly before 6 p.m.
Following an afternoon of searching, a zoo patron was the first to spot the reptile, about 60 feet from his pen and near the exhibit of a countryman, the zoo's Burmese python.
"Somehow he miraculously climbed out," Greene said. "Or he might've had a little assistance."
There is little to suggest tortoises' prowess as escape artists. "They are not fleet of foot," he said.
Rather, given this tortoise's inclination to stroll along the 3-foot fence of his pen, foul play could not be ruled out.
"It's very unlikely this animal climbed out of its enclosure on its own," Greene said.
After the disappearance, the zoo removed a second Burmese mountain tortoise -- the species is the world's fourth largest -- from the enclosure. In the wild, the reptiles are targeted for soup and for their greenish-black shells.
The zoo will make modifications to the enclosure to prevent future disappearances, whatever the cause, Greene said. The tortoises will not be displayed in the interim.
"We're just glad we got the animal back," he said.
