The search for Squirt: Modesto resident seeks escaped tortoise
Squirt escaped a week ago.
The African spur thigh tortoise, who turns 12 in a couple of months, broke through an unlatched side gate at Modesto resident Rebecca Goulet’s house, she said.
Goulet left to run errands about 3 p.m., she said. By 6:30, Squirt was gone.
Since then, Goulet said she has spread flyers around town, posted in social media groups and called shelters, rescue centers and emergency veterinarians. She asked neighbors to check camera footage and followed multiple leads to no avail. She’s still searching.
“I’m hoping one right person will see what’s going on and give me a call,” Goulet said by phone Saturday morning.
Tortoises commonly escape around this time of year because of the warm weather and the end of their hibernation, said Jennifer Perez, president and founder of the Cali_FID Parrot and Exotic Rescue Sanctuary in Modesto.
Perez said she knows of four tortoises currently missing in Stanislaus County. Her sanctuary is the only one in the Modesto area that accepts tortoises, she said.
Tortoises escape because they’re natural grazers, Perez said. “They’re always looking for the greener grass,” she said.
Many tortoises are native to Africa and would walk for miles if they could explore, she said.
“They’re basically wild animals,” Perez said. “We haven’t really domesticated them. They just tolerate it.”
Tortoises are faster than many people think. They can travel from 300 meters up to more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) in a day, depending on their species and size, according to the website tortoiseowner.com.
“He could cover pretty good ground,” Goulet said.
Goulet said she thinks Squirt could be as far as Stockton or Ceres. He was reportedly seen last Sunday, March 27, at the busy intersection of Ninth and D streets downtown, she said. If he was hit by a car, someone would have noticed, leading Goulet to believe someone took him home.
Goulet said she’s so worried about Squirt that she hasn’t been eating or sleeping. She fears that whoever might have scooped up Squirt off the street isn’t providing for his particular environmental and dietary needs.
Squirt can hang outdoors during the day, but nights get too cold. At home, Squirt crawls into his heated house to sleep, Goulet said. His diet includes a mix of grasses, hay and leaves. If he eats too many vegetables or fruits, he could fall sick, Goulet said. He has a cyst on his neck that needs to be treated, she said.
“There’s all these things that whoever has him doesn’t understand,” Goulet said.
Squirt was the littlest tortoise of the bunch when Goulet got him as a baby — hence the name Squirt, she said. He is also named after Squirtle the turtle from Pokemon, which Goulet said she loved when she was younger.
But Squirt has grown up and can no longer fit in the palm of Goulet’s hand. He weighs about 50 pounds, she said.
“Now he’s huge,” Goulet said, “but he’s still my Squirt.”
A false lead
About 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Goulet was on her way to the site of a tip about Squirt’s whereabouts. Someone had messaged her saying they saw a large tortoise appear at the house this week, matching the timing of Squirt’s disappearance.
So Goulet knocked on the door. Unfortunately, the woman who answered didn’t have information on Squirt. She told Goulet she had a ceramic tortoise in her backyard.
Goulet will continue searching.
If people see a lost tortoise in the middle of the road, they should immediately try to move it out of harm’s way, Perez said. Then, they should call animal control, which often directs to the Cali_FID Parrot and Exotic Rescue Sanctuary
The number for Modesto Animal Control is 209-572-9500.
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
