Large tortoise at large near Okotoks

Every day, the Southern Alberta Veterinary Emergency clinic in Okotoks posts pictures to its Facebook page of cute animals, and those that are missing.

It has never before posted a plea to the public to keep their eyes open for a 50-pound tortoise.

That all changed Tuesday.

"The lady called in yesterday, she was kind of a little sheepish when she called because I know it sounds so odd. I guess the story is she had a pet sitter. This is a 50-pound tortoise named Khoopa and it escaped out of her enclosure, the yard," said Nicole Bedair, who works at the clinic.

"As she worded it, he was on the run, which of course I laughed hysterically. So we offered to put it on our Facebook page for her because we get a lot of followers on our Facebook page because we post really cute puppy photos all the time."

Not so easy to spot

Despite the fact a large tortoise would surely stick out from the typical creatures of southern Alberta, Khoopa has been missing for three days without a peep from the public.

Khoopa's owner, Jody Jordan, says although it sounds odd for a tortoise to wander for three days without being seen, there's a good reason for it.

"The problem being now is you only have a certain amount of hours that he's going to be out moving around," she said.

"So from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a really sunny day we have opportunity, otherwise then he burrows himself under tall grass, in a hole to keep himself warm, keep away from predators at night."

She said there's no chance of finding Khoopaonce he's burrowed, particularly in the largely rural area north of Okotokswhere he went missing.

'Like, he motors'

Jordan adopted the tortoise from a rescue about a year and a half ago andsaid the 15-year-old isnot as slow as one would think, covering the length of the yard on herfour-acre property in about ten minutes when he goes for a wander.

"It's a good size, like, he motors," she said.

Jordan's concern is that Khoopalikes heat and could be suffering through cold nights. If cooler weather comes, it could have fatal consequences.

Anyone seeing a rather large tortoise in the area is asked to contact the clinic at 403-995-3270.

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