Missing 115-year-old tortoise returned to New Mexico owner

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A 115-year-old desert tortoise that disappeared from its garden at a New Mexico senior living community was returned.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2w9xGQb ) the tortoise, Diablo, was returned Friday to Manzano del Sol Village. He had ventured to the backyard of a nearby home after a family bought the shell-wearing wanderer from kids at a local park.

Millie Tjeltweed, who owns Diablo, says she doesn’t know the circumstances of the tortoise’s disappearance.

Tjeltweed says the family that purchased Diablo called the senior living community after seeing a news report on the tortoise’s disappearance. Tjeltweed and some administrators from the facility went over to the home, and Tjeltweed was able to verify that it was her pet of 35 years.