Police in České Budějovice catch runaway tortoise named Leo

On Wednesday around 4 p.m., a police patrol in České Budějovice picked up a tortoise that was calmly strolling along a busy street. According to police, the report came in from a passerby who spotted the animal on the main road — 5. května Avenue.

As police spokesman Milan Bajcura joked, whether the tortoise was following traffic rules wasn’t exactly the officers’ main concern — the priority was simply getting it off the road safely. The patrol took the runaway to the police station on Žižkova Street, after which specialists from the Animal Rescue organization in České Budějovice were called in.

Staff from the shelter and animal rescue service determined that the detainee was a roughly ten-year-old male tortoise named Leo. This wasn’t his first escape: he had previously gone missing for almost a week, and was found about five kilometres from home.

According to Animal Rescue representative Vladimír Kosla, tortoises are surprisingly tough and strong — they can easily burrow under obstacles or dig themselves holes where they can hide for a long time, which makes tracking down runaways quite a challenge.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz