A tortoise that was displaced from its home in Mississippi during a deadly tornado outbreak has finally been reunited with its family weeks later.
Tiffany Emanuel told the Associated Press that she and her family had to leave their home in rural Kokomo on March 15 when a tornado hit. Upon their return, they found that two pine trees had fallen on top of the backyard home that belonged to their tortoise, Myrtle, with him nowhere in sight.
According to The Guardian, citing state officials, 18 tornadoes were reported in the area on March 14 and 15. The outbreak reportedly left seven people dead and dozens more injured.
On April 4, however, a neighbor found the missing animal, which local news outlets were calling the “tornado tortoise,” The Guardian reported.
They took him to the Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue, which shared on Facebook at the time that he was “likely displaced by the recent storms in Tylertown” and “in immediate need of medical care for a severe injury he sustained.”
By April 6, they updated their followers on Facebook to let them know Myrtle was receiving care and had a “very unique detail” that they would be asking whoever claimed him to identify before releasing him.
It wasn’t too long before Myrtle would be reunited with Emanuel. “The lady who found the tortoise called me and said she had run into the owners,” Christy Milbourne, founder and co-director of Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue, told the Associated Press.
“She said, ‘I think they’re going to be calling you.’ So, I was excited, and then the owners did call and say, ‘Yeah, that’s my tortoise,’ ” recalled Milbourne.
On April 7, the organization posted on Facebook that Myrtle’s family had been found and “he’s been reunited,” noting that it was the “happiest update.”
“And we found out that he was indeed a victim of the recent tornado there. He was either blown by the winds or he walked out after the storm took out their fence,” the organization wrote.
“He’s got some injuries to overcome, but he’s at least back in the arms of his family. They missed him so much and are so relieved and grateful to have him back,” their update continued. The AP said Emanuel is now nursing Myrtle back to health.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“It feels good to kind of have some kind of happy out of so much sad and grief and loss,” Emanuel told the news agency.
Read the full article here
