Tortoise who made daring escape from owner's garden found one MONTH later...THREE miles away

Daily Mail​

11-08-2025

They might be known for adopting a somewhat lesiurly pace.
But a tortoise that managed to escape from its garden spent a month on the run - before being discovered in a field three miles away.
Owner Sallyanne Brooksbank, 55, had given up on seeing pet Matilda again after she apparently scaled a corgette plant to make her great escape in early July.
But the runaway reptile was discovered in a field by walkers last week, who handed the tortoise in at a local shop.
The shopkeepers then posted a message about the find on Facebook - where it was spotted by Sallyanne.
The married mother-of-three from Wymondham in Leicestershire said it was a 'miracle' to have Matilda home.
She added: 'She must have had quite an adventure.
'We were distraught when she went missing. We searched the garden over and over, but I thought we'd never see her again. 'Now she's back, we've all got a massive smile on our faces.'
Sales director Sallyanne told the BBC how saucer-sized Matilda, a Hermann's tortoise, must have escaped the garden by climbing the stalk of a courgette plant in a raised bed beside a fence.
The 12-year-old Hermann tortoise was discovered near the village of Sewstern on Thursday.
She said: 'We've been trying to work out her route, but it has to have been through several fences, across fields, a ditch, a road, a stream and who knows what else.
'She's not very agile. She could have been attacked or squashed by a car - but she seems fine. 'If anything, she might have grown a bit.'
Mrs Brooksbank, who runs her own business, added: 'There are no marks on her shell, and she gobbled up the food we gave her.
'We think she climbed up the corgette plant and then slid down a leaf. 'She seems happy to be home, and I know we are happy to have her back.'
Mrs Brooksband said the tortoise was bought as a present for her then ten-year-old son, Rory, who is now 22.
'He kept her record of her measurements', Mrs Brooksband said.
'When Rory first weighed her in September 2013 Matilda was only 13grams.
'I have just weighed her again and she now tips the scales at 300g, even though she's still tiny.'
She said Matilda had been found thanks to the 'power of social media', adding: 'We don't know who found her, but I'd love to thank them.'
Hermann's tortoises are the most common species of tortoise kep as pets and despite their image, can move at speeds approaching five miles per hour.
They generally live for anywhere between 30 and 70 years and hail from southern Europe.