Central Mississippi was among the areas hit hard by a deadly and destructive multi-state tornado outbreak in mid-March. One impacted family became separated from their beloved tortoise in the chaos. Nearly a month later, though, they were reunited.
On April 6, Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue posted on its Facebook page that an injured tortoise had been found in the Tylertown area and was receiving medical care. They were seeking the owner, as they believed the animal had probably been displaced by the tornado that hit the area.
Within a day, the family of the tortoise, named Myrtle, had reached out and were able to be reunited with him.
In a Facebook post, the rescue said, “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. 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.”
According to an Associated Press story, Myrtle’s family had fled their home in Kokomo during the tornado outbreak on March 15. When they came back to see if their house had survived, they found that two pine trees had fallen onto Myrtle’s home and the tortoise wasn’t there. It wasn’t until April 4 that someone found him and reached out to Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue, which rescues and rehabilitates injured, sick, abused, neglected, and abandoned turtles and tortoises. In this case, it was a lost and injured tortoise.
After the Facebook post reunited the family, it was a small piece of good news to come out of the deadly storms, which killed around 40 people across multiple states over several days.
Myrtle’s owner Tiffany Emanuel said, “It feels good to kind of have some kind of happy out of so much sad and grief and loss.”
