'A big relief': Piedmont woman’s pet tortoise found after over 2 months of searching
PIEDMONT, Okla. (KFOR) - After a few months of searching, a Piedmont woman’s pet Tortoise “Ferb” was finally found. It was only about 100 feet away from her home.
"It has been a long, long road and I sure did miss him,” Ferb’s owner Cherrie Zaidi said.
Splish splash, Ferb the African Spur Tortoise was back home taking a bath Thursday. You won’t find anyone more excited about that than Zaidi.
“I can't explain to you any of that,” she said. “It's just a big relief."
Ferb and Zaidi’s other pet tortoise Phineas have lived with their family for 4 years. Zaidi’s husband drove to Tulsa and brought them home in December of 2020.
"He came home with them in little mailboxes and a tank, everything I needed to get started,” she said.
One morning, Zaidi said she put them outside a couple months ago. Normally, she checks on them every couple hours.
"I got stuck on the phone that morning,” Zaidi said.
By the time she was able to go look, Ferb played a shell game. The tortoise shimmied it’s way under an area of their fence before turning tail and taking off. From there, a search was on.
"I searched everything, we drove around in circles,” Zaidi said.
People from Piedmont came in to help search. It was nine weeks and four days later when her husband noticed what he thought was a clump of grass about 100 feet into a field behind their home. That is, until it moved.
"He couldn't hardly get the phone dialed to tell me all about it,” Zaidi said.
Zaidi came home once she heard the news and just like that, they were reunited and it feels so good.
"It was such a relief,” she said.
Zaidi said she is taking extra precaution’s around her yard to ensure that Phineas or Ferb doesn’t escape again.