NORTH PORT, Fla. — A community wide search in North Port led to the safe return of a missing African spurred tortoise named Ninja, who escaped his outdoor enclosure on Sunday.
Jonathan Rodriguez said he has owned Ninja, the nine-year-old tortoise for about five years. He said he didn’t realize how strong the juvenile spurred tortoise had become, before he broke free from his enclosure.
“I saw that his enclosure was compromised, it seemed like he tumbled one of the walls down,” said Rodriguez. “He has gotten so big and so strong that he wiggled, wiggled it down until it went down and he escaped that way.”
Immediately, Rodriguez and his wife Desiree Negron started handing out flyers, alerting the neighborhood that Ninja was on the loose. Rodriguez said neighbors began sharing pictures and videos of the turtle wandering around the neighborhood, but nobody was able to hold him still long enough to capture him.
“The people that see him, don’t know that he’s a pet and not a native species,” said Rodriguez. “And they don’t grab him, and he’s not easy to contain so people just keep letting him go. By the time I would get to them it was too late, the tortoise had gone somewhere else.”
When Ninja sightings slowed down, Rodriguez said he started to become increasingly concerned for the tortoise.
“Now that gets me a little worried because being such a big animal, some people should have seen him,” said Rodriguez.
Approximately two hours after Fox 4’s Alex Orenczuk spoke with Rodriguez on Friday, a neighbor found Ninja in his backyard, three miles away from his enclosure.
“I was going to go out and have lunch on the lanai, and my lab just started freaking out and I looked up and sure enough there's this big turtle walking by,” Aron Derbidge told Fox 4. “Thankfully his owners had dropped off a flyer and contacted the community management so I had a number to reach out to.”
“I’m just so happy for the family to be able to finally get their turtle back,” said Derbidge.
Moments later Negron came to collect Ninja, who had already started to crawl back toward a wooded area, load him into her car, and take him back home safely.
“We are relieved because he’s safe,” said Negron. “We were worried for him and his safety, and we were worried because he was crossing many streets, and we didn’t want anyone to hit him because he’s big.”
Negron said Ninja returned unscathed, though a little hungry from his five day journey, and that she is thankful for everyone who helped look for him. She said his enclosure has been reinforced, stopping him from any more escapes.
