This is Leo, a 40 year old Mohave Desert Tortoise.
He came to visit us one day this week. Here are 3 of our dogs greeting him at the back gate. Betty, in the middle, seems surprised.
Gary was surprised too. The dogs raised a commotion so he went to see what was up, and there was Leo. We did not know his name at that time, only that we had an unexpected visitor. He was tame, unafraid of the dogs, and clearly a pet. Gary let him into the yard and closed the gate to keep him out of the street. After a while the dogs lost interest. Leo ate some salad greens out of Gary’s hand.
We needed to find Leo’s people. Gary asked at the humane society if anyone reported a lost tortoise – no one had. We put an ad in the local paper. Then last night we saw a family searching the creek at the end of our street with flashlights. Gary asked what they were looking for, and it was a 40 year old Mohave Desert Tortoise named Leo. A happy ending to Leo’s visit.