The tortoise.

OMG!!!

UPDATE!!!!



*Sings to the tune of I shot the Sheriff*

I found the tortoise,
And I took him to the library...

Yup. While walking to work today, my attention was drawn to movement on the sidewalk. I walked closer, and removed my sunglasses.

Imagine my surprise when I saw what it was: A TORTOISE!

Okay, so this is a big deal for one major reason, I live in Alberta, Canada.

This is NOT a place where turtles/ tortoises just wander around nonchalantly.

And this was definitely a tortoise, and also it was a good size. I'd say about 5 inches across, and 9 inches long.

I stood there as it slowly crawled toward me. I looked around to see if there was anyone around, or any open doors nearby. Nope. Unsure of what to do, I debated leaving it. Then I saw it start to crawl toward the street. Not wanting it to get run over, I picked it up and continued on my journey to the library.

I must have looked fairly strange, walking along with my headphones the size of earmuffs, a rock paper scissors lizard spock tote bag in one hand, and a tortoise in the other. I am no stranger to eccentricity, so I carried on my merry way.

I was highly amused at the tortoise's movements - it moved it's legs as though it was still walking in the air. It must have thought it was super freaking fast!

I was less amused when it started peeing, but I held it out to the side, and that ended soon enough.

(for real though, who'd have thought it would have such a large bladder?! That was a lot of pee for such a small animal)

I got to the library and the two other librarians decided a catch-and-release strategy would be the best way to deal with the tortoise. It peed again. Like, really - I never would have thought that tortoises have such large bladders! One drove it to a place by a pond in the park.

She did this despite my protestations that A) We live in Alberta, and tortoises do NOT wander around nonchalantly. It isn't supposed to be wandering around by itself. And B) I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to just release animals into the world. What if it was a harmful species? It had my fingerprints all over it! O.O

Seriously though, I'm sure if it isn't dead by now, it will be soon.

And that's sad.

My pleas fell on deaf ears. I was overruled, and unable to save the tortoise from it's fate.

:(

An interesting adventure with a bittersweet ending.