There's a dinosaur in my backyard!

I get blamed for a lot of things, but I can gleefully say that this adventure:
1) Did not happen to me
2) Is in no way shape or form my fault!

This morning a friend of mine was getting ready for work when she heard her dog in the yard barking frantically. Concerned she ran out to her yard to find this:





You may not be able to tell from the photo, but this is not just a turtle, it is a tortoise! She is much larger than she may look. And if she looks big to us just imagine how big she looks to a small dog! It like the yard has been invaded by a dinosaur!



Turns out the tortoise was dropped off by my friends brother, in the middle of the night (as all tortoises should be moved- they’re like ninjas and want to have the cover of darkness) and without him bothering to let anyone know that the ninja tortoise was there.

When asked about the tortoise her brother told her that since he didn’t have a yard, he figured the tortoise will stay with her. I love everything about this logic – as long as I am not the one receiving a delivery of a giant tortoise in the middle of the night.

Tortoise’s live up to 100+ years and can get very very large. They need a special balanced diet t o make sure that they are healthy and eat a variety of grasses that my friend now has to find in order to feed it. This isn’t like giving someone a goldfish (under the cover of darkness), which would be fairly manageable. This tortoise likes to dig, and eat the plants in the yard and scares their dogs, and did I mention that it will get HUGE?




Awesome pet idea




So my friend called her husband to tell him expecting him to be just as confused and incredulous as she was about this. His response?

“Cool! Let’s name her Dusty!”

So everyone welcome Dusty to the family, apparently she has found a home!