TUCSON, Ariz. - A midtown family is hoping you can help find someone very special. He's about 80 pounds, wears a horny shell and is named Flash.
Flash may be a cold blooded reptile but he warms the hearts of the people who love him.
Don Falk says, “He's a beloved pet, He's beloved member of our family and our next door neighbor is devastated that he's gone. They have a very close close friendship. He goes running when ever he hears her come home."
Falk says Flash got his name because he's fast---at least by tortoise standards---he found a way through the fence and probably went off looking for love but his chances are not good. He's not from around here. He's a Sulcata Tortoise native to Africa.
"To my knowledge, there's no online dating for tortoises. They have to find each other wandering around and I think the chances are pretty slim."
But a human may have found Flash. A neighbor sent Don video of a man putting a large tortoise in his car.
“So we don't know if he was picking them up to keep them safe or to take him home to adopt him or to take them somewhere else to release them. We have no idea. So for us, we just want to know that he was safe that he is safe.”
Surprising as it may seem, at KGUN9 we actually have prior experience with wayward African Sulcata Tortoises. And that tells us tortoise reunions can and do happen.
Years ago, a Sulcata tortoise named Toby showed up outside KGUN chowing down on the shrubbery. We put him on the air, and his family claimed him.
We'll probably never know how Toby traveled the six miles to KGUN in just one day.
Don Falk would like his own reunion with Flash or at least know Flash has a good home.
"If somebody has him at home and knows how to take care of these Sulcata tortoises that that would be okay too. We just want to know that here's safe."
