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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reptile Adventures in Nampa worries missing tortoise was stolen

Twister the tortoise (Reptile Adventures)
By Emily Lowe Idaho Press

NAMPA, Idaho – A tortoise has gone missing from Reptile Adventures in Nampa, and employees and volunteers worry he might have been stolen.

Twister, a 75-pound tortoise, disappeared from rescue president Tyler Messina’s yard Monday afternoon. Messina said there is no evidence that he broke out of the fenced yard in which he lived.

Five other tortoises at the educational facility are accounted for.

The tortoises had been spending time grazing and soaking up the sun in Messina’s yard, which is typical for the summer because the rescue doesn’t have the means to keep them at the facility year-round. Messina said he checked on the tortoises in the morning before taking one to a show. When he returned, only Twister was missing, he said.

Twister had been painted white, blue, yellow and red by uneducated owners before he was surrendered to the rescue. He was used to teach people how to properly care for tortoises. Messina said Twister has been at the rescue almost one year, which is when they learned he had survived with the paint on his shell for about 20 years.

 (Reptile Adventures)
(Reptile Adventures)

Twister was sick when the rescue took him in, and is still overcoming it. Messina said the rescue is worried that if he doesn’t get proper care soon, he won’t survive long.

Reptile Adventures’ Facebook post alerting people that Twister is missing has been shared over 600 times.

Reptiles Adventures is an educational facility in Nampa that does outreach shows educating the public about reptiles and their benefit to people and to wildlife.