Missing tortoise Tallulah found 18 months later a mile from home

Tallulah, 20, fled early last year after building work spooked her. Owner Linzi Cavanagh said she and her four children were devastated

A pet tortoise that went missing for 18 months has been found in a burrow a mile from her home.

Tallulah, 20, fled early last year after building work spooked her. Owner Linzi Cavanagh said she and her four children were devastated when they could not find their beloved pal. They did everything to locate her and even organised a search party.

Linzi said: “There were 16, 17 of us with rakes doing the whole of the fields up and down. We couldn’t find her.”

She even put posters on her local Facebook page and at bus stops.

Luckily, Tallulah was finally spotted by Bryan Murray who saw one of the posters and the very next day spotted her while riding his horse close to their home near Arrington, Cambs.

He said: “I’m a birdwatcher so notice anything that’s different.

“I got a bit closer and thought, ‘I know that tortoise’.”

Bryan said Tallulah had made a burrow to stay sheltered. Delighted Linzi said she was “a bit hysterical” when Tallulah was handed over her.

She added: “I couldn’t believe we were getting her back. Amazingly, a lost cat called Rayne Beau also made a 900-mile trek home to his owners in California two months after getting lost on a camping trip in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.