Willy the Tortoise Comes Home

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. – Willy the tortoise made a break for freedom – well, break may be too strong a word. It was more like a slow crawl. But after a month on the lam, the 40-pound tortoise with a 2-foot-wide, gold-colored shell is back in the wading pool at his owner’s home.

Kellie Copeland-Burnup reported the tortoise escaped about July 1.

A local emergency medical services technician spotted Willy on Sunday along a rural road about five miles away. During six weeks on the run, Willy averaged .005 mph, well short of a new land speed record.

The tortoise is now inside a chain-link dog kennel in Copeland-Burnup’s back yard although she knows he is capable of digging under a fence.

"I’ll be keeping an eye on him," Copeland-Burnup said.

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.charleston.net