Sunday, August 24, 2008

Tortoise found 13 miles from home

Timmy the tortoise might well feel a little shell-shocked yesterday - after being found 13 miles from home.
But mystery surrounds just how the 50-year-old pet got that far.
Owners David and Jean Hipperson feared they would never see Timmy again after she vanished from her hut in the back garden.
Two weeks went by and the couple of Trowbridge, Wilts, put up missing posters but had no luck.
But then a woman spotted Timmy walking along a main road 13 miles away in Midsomer Norton.
The Moroccan spur-thigh tortoise clocked up an average speed of 0.038mph during her long walk - well below the average tortoise top speed of 0.3mph. At her fastest Timmy could have completed the incredible 13-mile trip in 43 hours.
Grandad David, 63, admitted yesterday: "I'm baffled how she could have walked so far. Tortoises are not exactly famous for being quick off the mark and Timmy isn't even energetic for a tortoise - so how she made it that far is a mystery. I would love to find out how she did it."
The woman who found Timmy handed her to a local vet who had seen the missing posters and contacted dad-of-three dairy worker David.
The tortoise has been in the family for 39 years and was named Timmy because David initially thought the pet was male.
Andrew Pomphrey, 45, from the British Tortoise Society, said: "It's possible that a tortoise could walk that distance in that time.
"They have a fair bit of pace on them when they get going so you couldn't rule it out. Having said that, I have never known one to go that far. It's quite an achievement."
0.35mph
The average top speed of a tortoise in a hurry

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