DALLAS — A 200-pound missing tortoise was at the center of one of the strangest mysteries at Dallas Animal Services.
On Sept. 19, DAS got the call that a 200-pound stray tortoise was found wandering around Dallas.
“It was bizarre… just the strangest thing,” DAS Field Supervisor Shannon Miller told WFAA.
DAS took the tortoise in, named him Wendell, posted his picture online and asked anyone who lost a giant tortoise to call them.
More than 20 people did.
“I thought, how can this many people lose their tortoise and not find it?!” Assistant Director of DAS Mary Martin told WFAA.
The tortoise DAS found is a Sulcata tortoise. Sulcatas get to be very big and love to dig, often escaping under or through fences. DAS now believes that’s why so many people thought the tortoise might be theirs.
DAS turned away several people, but eventually found Wendell’s rightful owner (As it turns out, Wendell is actually named Lorenzo)
Lorenzo’s owner, Gabriel Fernandez, went to get him back after he saw DAS’ viral post.
“As soon as I seen him, I knew right away it was him,” Fernandez told WFAA.
Lorenzo, as it turns out, escaped from under a fence at Gabriel’s family home, where he lives with his 41 other pets, including a spider monkey that wears dresses and a diaper.
Oh , and Lorenzo used to live at the Tiger King zoo.
“Oh yeah, that’s funny. I got him from Jeff Lowe that was on the Tiger King,” Fernandez said.
After surviving five weeks in the wild, Lorenzo's story captivated the internet. But Fernandez said this strange story is also a sweet one.
“If it wasn’t for everybody sharing, I never would’ve seen [the photo],” Ferandez told WFAA.
Thanks to all the kind folks who shared Lorenzo’s picture until Gabriel saw it, his five little kids, have their favorite pet back home.
“I thought I was never gonna see Lorenzo again,” Fernandez’s son, Adrian said. “It’s like…like our family’s back together.”