A nearly 100-pound tortoise named Lard had somewhere to be after escaping a fenced yard in Colorado — and apparently, it was anywhere except back home.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Animal Control Officer McMullen responded Aug. 31 to a report of a wandering sulcata tortoise in Littleton. Lard’s owner was already at the scene when McMullen arrived.
Getting the runaway back where he belonged was another matter. The sheriff’s office said attempts to coax Lard toward home went nowhere, with the tortoise continuing in the opposite direction.
At just shy of 100 pounds, Lard was also too large for an easy pickup. A bystander eventually stepped in to help McMullen lift the tortoise and carry him back home.
A Heavy Lift
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Lard’s size is not especially unusual for his species. The Oregon Zoo says African spurred tortoises, also known as sulcata tortoises, average about 70 to 100 pounds and can reach roughly 200 pounds.
They are the largest tortoises native to the African mainland, according to the zoo, which makes moving an uncooperative adult a considerably different assignment from scooping up a stray household pet.
McMullen and the bystander ultimately got Lard over the finish line — or at least back over the property line — and safely returned him to his owner.
The sheriff’s office closed its account of the incident with its own final assessment: “Case status: CLOSED. Suspect: SHELLEBRITY.”