Family 'can't sleep' after tortoise escapes again

The owner of an 86-year-old tortoise has said she "can't sleep" after he escaped from his Leicester home for the second time in a week.

Vera, the spur-thighed tortoise, first escaped from Wendy Krotochwil’s garden in Birstall on 23 August, before breaking out of his reinforced pen for a second time on Wednesday.

Ms Krotochwil, 58, said searching for Vera was like “looking for a needle in a haystack”.

She is now urging locals to check their gardens and is offering a cash reward to anyone that can find her pet.

Vera was found by a railway worker working on nearby tracks after escaping for the first time.

The close call made Ms Krotochwil build two extra fences behind Vera’s brick-wall pen as extra security, but she now fears Vera has broken through that too.

“I've spoken to the neighbours; I rang the railway; I rang the vets; I put out a post on social media; I'm putting posters out," she said.

“We can't sleep, it's awful.

"We've been awake for hours, we can't sleep at night, the kids are crying.

"It's really awful."

The family have a second tortoise called Jack, who has lived with Vera for all of his life.

“They need to be together, we need Vera back”, she said.

Ms Krotochwil added that getting Vera back would be the perfect gift for her birthday on Saturday.

“I don't want to give up hope, so I hope he gets found by somebody," she said.

"It'll be the best present ever.”

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