Latest news with #missingpet
BBC News
17-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Elusive tortoise in Devon still on the run after eight days
The owners of an elusive tortoise that escaped from its enclosure eight days ago have offered a £200 reward for her the 20-year-old Leopard Tortoise managed to scratch her way to freedom from the garden of the Phillips family in Shillingford Abbot in has since been spotted on several occasions by members of the public but is still on the loose, despite extensive searches including the use of thermal owner Nick Phillips said the 18kg (40lbs) tortoise could have travelled about 1km (0.62 miles) a day and the £200 reward was "slight encouragement" for public help. Mr Phillips said: "She was spotted walking flat out, almost running up Weybrook Lane. A lady took a picture from her car and put it on Facebook and my daughter spotted it. We were there within half an hour looking and couldn't see any sign of her."Subsequent to that, a friend, an acquaintance of ours, old chap, said, 'oh, your tortoise, I was driving down Weybrook Lane, there was a tortoise in the road, so I stopped and I put it on the verge'."Mr Phillips added: "Where she's gone now we are not sure."The family has had nine people looking for the tortoise in verges, undergrowth and local woods, and using thermal imaging to try and spot her. The family is becoming increasingly concerned about their beloved pet. "The obvious worst scenario is that somebody has stopped picked her up and driven off but you just don't know," Mr Phillips said. He said Shelly is about the size of a "small car wheel" and is not likely to be getting enough to eat."This time of year when they're active she'll have like a whole lettuce, couple of tomatoes, half a cucumber, watermelon and then they get a special tortoise mix as well," he said. "They would be eating pretty much whatever you put in front of them so I don't know quite how they get on out in the wild." Anyone who spots Shelly is asked to pick her up and put her in the boot of their car or stay with her and contact the family through their social media posts, or by contacting the local police. Mr Phillips said the family would be "very happy" to pay the £200 reward to anyone who manages to return Shelly.
Sky News
25-06-2025
- Sky News
'It's just wrong': Pet owner's plea after 43-year-old tortoise 'taken'
A woman in South Wales, whose 43-year-old tortoise is thought to have been stolen, has issued an appeal to help locate him - more than a month since he was last seen. Ann Thatcher, whose tortoise Sesame went missing from his home in Neath, South Wales, is still hoping to be reunited with her beloved pet. The 76-year-old told Sky News Sesame had been part of her family since he was bought in a shop in Cardiff 43 years ago. "He's been through five cats, two dogs, two daughters, four grandchildren and various members of the family who've loved him and now gone, so he really is a family member," she said. "And I just can't believe somebody has taken him like that with no thought or regard for him or for us." Her young grandson is particularly upset at the thought of Sesame having been taken away. Sesame would spend most of his time out in the garden, before he would "toddle off to his little house" in the evening. While police have been informed, there was "very little they can do" without further evidence, Mrs Thatcher said. She is now offering a £500 reward to anyone who reunites her with her pet tortoise. Sesame, who Mrs Thatcher described as "quite a frisky male", damaged his shell last year and requires medication. "After having him, cared for him after all this time, now he's not going to be so well treated," Mrs Thatcher added. "He obviously isn't, because they don't know him. And that's what bothers me now is that, will he even survive?" A change in the law was introduced in England and Northern Ireland last year, meaning that anyone convicted of stealing a pet in those nations could face up to five years in prison - but it only extends to cat and dog abduction. Pet theft is a criminal offence in Wales but is not covered by the Pet Abduction Act introduced last year. "We're talking about a living thing here, not items," said Mrs Thatcher. "He's older than my youngest daughter. He's grown up with so many people, it's just wrong, it's cruel to take him away."
Sky News
29-05-2025
- General
- Sky News
Reward for tortoise, 43, thought to have been stolen
A woman in South Wales, whose 43-year-old tortoise is thought to have been stolen, has issued an appeal to help locate him - more than a month since he was last seen. Ann Thatcher, whose tortoise Sesame went missing from his home in Neath, South Wales, is still hoping to be reunited with her beloved pet. The 76-year-old told Sky News Sesame had been part of her family since he was bought in a shop in Cardiff 43 years ago. "He's been through five cats, two dogs, two daughters, four grandchildren and various members of the family who've loved him and now gone, so he really is a family member," she said. "And I just can't believe somebody has taken him like that with no thought or regard for him or for us." Her young grandson is particularly upset at the thought of Sesame having been taken away. Sesame would spend most of his time out in the garden, before he would "toddle off to his little house" in the evening. While police have been informed, there was "very little they can do" without further evidence, Mrs Thatcher said. She is now offering a £500 reward to anyone who reunites her with her pet tortoise. Sesame, who Mrs Thatcher described as "quite a frisky male", damaged his shell last year and requires medication. "After having him, cared for him after all this time, now he's not going to be so well treated," Mrs Thatcher added. "He obviously isn't, because they don't know him. And that's what bothers me now is that, will he even survive?" A change in the law was introduced in England and Northern Ireland last year, meaning that anyone convicted of stealing a pet in those nations could face up to five years in prison - but it only extends to cat and dog abduction. Pet theft is a criminal offence in Wales but is not covered by the Pet Abduction Act introduced last year. "We're talking about a living thing here, not items," said Mrs Thatcher. "He's older than my youngest daughter. He's grown up with so many people, it's just wrong, it's cruel to take him away."
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Mating tortoise returns home a year after vanishing
A woman is celebrating the return of her beloved pet tortoise nearly a year after she went Muirie, 50, who lives near Bredon, Gloucestershire, believes her pet, called Ginger, may have escaped to go in search of a new putting up signs around the area, she had almost given up hope after nearly a year without a single sighting. But almost 11 months later, Ginger was spotted by a horse rider behind the Mount Inn, in Stanton. Ms Muirie said: "[It's] a good mile from home, so she must have been hibernating in the area, and luckily someone remembered the poster and got in touch." The horse rider originally thought Ginger was a rock until he went past again and noticed a little head sticking Muirie said having owned Ginger for 40 years ago, the family knew how important it was to keep tortoises safe through hibernation and she could not believe Ginger would survive the winter alone."My brother made the missing posters and he got a call earlier this month to say they had found her. But he's in London so he called me and I said 'it can't be Ginger'.""Then I went to pick her up and I genuinely couldn't believe that she survived a year of the wild." She said since coming home, Ginger has been enjoying the sunshine and found herself a little area where she can sunbathe and eat her Muirie said her pet has been a big part of her family for the past four decades."To have a pet for 40 years, she could outlive me so it means a lot. We're very happy to have her back and it feels like a childhood memory has returned," she added.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- BBC News
'Our cat was lost - then next door's floor meowed'
Ms Cooper and her 83-year-old father had been in contact with the "lovely and supportive" neighbours throughout their hunt for Leia, and they got in touch to say they thought they could hear cat noises, as first reported by Kent Online. After cutting a hole in the new flooring, they found Leia looking back at them. It is thought the cat crawled under the floor unnoticed during renovation work at the house. "You can imagine what followed - we were beside ourselves," Ms Cooper said. They also found an open can of beer in the hole, and believe the cat survived on this or another unknown source of water. "It's a bit of a mystery," Ms Cooper said, "but perhaps she did drink that beer. She certainly seemed pretty dozy when I picked her up." Ms Cooper leafleted the area and hired a 'pet detective' to try to find the cat. She said the neighbours probably could not hear Leia until then as "there's been so much noise going on" from the works.
