Hunt for tiny tortoise

AN Ipswich family are shell-shocked today after their pet tortoise made a break for freedom and escaped in to the estate where they live.

Georgie is 15 months old and just five centimetres long, and his disappearance has left his owners, the Pond family, distraught.

Jane Pond, 37, of Sheldrake Drive, said: “He managed to escape from a gap under our garden gate on Monday.

“We usually have a piece of plastic that we put there to stop him from getting out but my husband forgot to replace it and he got away.”

Georgie, who was a 50th birthday present for Jane's husband Richard, had been out in the garden with the family's other tortoise Tootsie.

Mrs Pond said: “When I went out I just saw Tootsie pacing up and down by the gate, because she's too big to get under the gap.

“I wondered what on earth she was doing and then I realised the little one had gone.”

Despite frantically searching the roads around their Chantry home the family have had no luck.

Mrs Pond said: “We've put up posters everywhere and searched everywhere we can think of but there's no sign of him.”

The tiny tortoise's disappearance has been particularly upsetting for the family's three children - Adam, 15, Sammy, 13, and Becky, 11.

Mrs Pond said: “They are devastated.

“None of them can stop thinking about it and they are all looking for him everywhere they go.”

The hunt for Georgie has been hindered by the fact that tortoises tend to bury themselves in the ground when it gets hot in an effort to cool down.

Mrs Pond said: “We would just like everyone to have a thorough look in their gardens as he could be quite difficult to spot.

“He might be hiding in bushes somewhere or in a shady place, so he could be in someone's garden without them noticing.”

Georgie is a Herman tortoise and is a yellowy-brown colour.

If you have any information on his whereabouts contact Mrs Pond on 01473 682047.