A runaway tortoise has been returned to his family after going missing for almost two days. The family is happy to have him back, and shocked he got as far as he did.
On Tuesday afternoon, after a grocery trip with her two young sons, Jasmine Sprague returned home to find the gate to her home had been left open.
After a quick look around the house, she realized the family’s tortoise, Bowser, was gone.
“My two older boys were really upset,” Sprague said. “They were worried he wouldn’t find food and water, and that he misses home.”
Sprague and her kids got on their bikes and scoured the neighborhood for several blocks, before returning home tortoiseless.
The family rescued Bowser two years ago, after someone found him in a backpack and brought him to a family member.
Sprague says Bowser has always been a curious explorer. And the family jokes that he’s a guard tortoise.
“When we first brought him home, we were a little naive,” Sprague said. “He is so fast. When he really wants to go somewhere, he will get up and go.”
But Sprague said she never would have guessed that Bowser would have gotten as far as he did.
On Thursday morning, almost 48 hours after Bowser went missing, Sprague received a call from the Multnomah County Animal Services. “They said they had my tortoise and that he was just there, hanging out.”
Bowser the tortoise walking along a dirt path next to a Portland Police Bureau all-terrain vehicle.
Courtesy of Portland Police Bureau
Portland police officers had found Bowser more than a mile from home. They contacted Multnomah County Animal Control, who connected Bowser to a post Sprague put on their website identifying him as missing.
Bowser had crossed Interstate 205.
“Multiple times we’ve wondered how he wandered so far with nobody noticing him,” Sprague said. “It’s pretty miraculous.”
Neither Sprague nor the Portland Police Bureau know exactly where Bowser was headed. Sprague said Bowser didn’t tend to roam far from home.
An officer with the Portland Police Bureau holds Bowser the tortoise next to an PPB ATV.
Courtesy of Portland Police Bureau
She suspects he might have caught a whiff of his favorite food, dandelions, or just decided to go for a stroll.
Whatever the reason, Sprague and her family are happy Bowser is back home. She said his return wouldn’t have been possible without Multnomah County and Paw Boost volunteers, who were able to spread the word that Bowser was missing.
“As sad and as scary as it was,” Sprague said,” those volunteers and people who work at Animal Services made it so much easier to to be scared and stressed, knowing that there were people who were helping.”
For his troubles, Bowser now has a new piece of jewelry, a GPS tracker on his leg.