Two tortoises moseyed away from home in Buford this week, surprising neighbors.
Bryan Powers saw the shelled reptiles strolling down Wallace Road. He knew immediately the African tortoises, native to the Sahara Desert and the Sahel, were not where they were supposed to be.
"My first thought was they're somebody's pets. Why are they here? Where did they come from?" Powers told Channel 2 Action News.
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Powers’ instincts were right. Buford resident Cyndi Moore was missing her pets, Luke and Mary. The tortoises enjoy grazing on grass. When a contractor didn’t lock the gate at Moore’s home, the pair wandered away looking for a new place to munch, Moore told Channel 2.
Once Powers found them, he took them home and used social media to post about his curious find. While waiting for the owner to claim them, Powers showed the tortoises off to his kids.
“Oh, they had a blast. We had them for probably an hour and a half,” Powers told Channel 2. “Better than a pony!”
“Ha! That’s as close as they’re gonna get.”
Luke and Mary are now safely reunited with Moore.
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