South Dakota family reunites Texas siblings with runaway turtle with only 3 feet

Dominik Dausch, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·7 min read
2

LENNOX — Two Texas siblings are counting their blessings after a family from South Dakota found their runaway turtle.

Scoot is a 12-year-old desert box turtle belonging to Charis Knobloch, 9, and Malick Knobloch, 5, from El Paso, Texas. She came to the family with the unique oddity of missing a foot on one of her legs, but she still managed to meander away from an outdoor enclosure June 30, while the family was staying with their grandmother in Lennox.

During the summer, the Knoblochs migrate to Lennox to escape the brutal Texas heat. They stay with relatives who live in town, before returning to El Paso shortly before school resumes.

But Scoot was kept in an outdoor, caged enclosure during their stay. Chain link fencing surrounds a vacant doghouse, and thick metal cylinders lining the bottom of the cage prevents anything a little smaller than a turtle from sneaking underneath — in most cases.

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Scoot, a desert box turtle belonging to a Texas family, is held for a photo on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. The reptile escaped from its enclosure on June 30 while the family was vacationing in Lennox and went missing for two weeks before she was reunited with her owners using social media.
Scoot, a desert box turtle belonging to a Texas family, is held for a photo on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. The reptile escaped from its enclosure on June 30 while the family was vacationing in Lennox and went missing for two weeks before she was reunited with her owners using social media.

"This turtle, she's super wiggly, so she can move. We weren't sure exactly when she got out or which direction she went," Sharita Knobloch, the siblings' mother, said. "Even though turtles have a reputation for being slow, they can go a good distance in a short amount of time."

Sometime on June 30, Scoot somehow scooted underneath the tubing or otherwise found some way to emancipate herself from her summer home.

The enclosure had one small opening where Scoot could have escaped — a gap between the ground and the bottom of part of the fence — but it was smaller than the turtle was tall. Sharita Knobloch guessed Scoot would have struggled to squeeze her shell through the gap and said she didn't notice any other openings in the enclosure.

After an afternoon of scouring the area with neighbors, the Knoblochs believed Scoot truly had skipped town.

Sharita Knobloch posted to the Latest in Lennox (SD) Facebook group that same day in case someone might stumble upon the lost pet, but she wasn't getting her hopes up. Desert box turtles aren't completely suited for survival in South Dakota, so if it was gone for longer than 24 hours, Sharita Knobloch would be assuming the worst.

"I was thinking about our return trip to El Paso — how we carry this turtle in our vehicle 1,500 miles plus, every summer, one-way — and thinking of packing up the car and being like, 'I don't get to bring Scoot with me' was a really sad thing to think about," Sharita Knobloch said.

"We prayed for Scoot that night: 'Lord, bring her home or let her be safe,'" she continued. "The hardest part for me was knowing … she wouldn't make it through the winter."

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Scoot makes his way through some grass on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Although obscured by the grass, Scoot's front left leg is missing its foot and claws. Sharita Knobloch, the turtle's owner, said she can still crawl along the ground without trouble.
Scoot makes his way through some grass on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Although obscured by the grass, Scoot's front left leg is missing its foot and claws. Sharita Knobloch, the turtle's owner, said she can still crawl along the ground without trouble.

Scoot's flown the coop

A couple days later, grandmother Lex Knobloch was looking out her kitchen window, when she saw a young girl walking through the yard with her dog.

"I came out and I said, 'Are you looking for something?'" Lex Knobloch said. "She said 'I'm looking for your turtle! I made some posters and I hung them on posts outside just to help people know this is where she lived.' That about brought tears to my eyes, that total strangers came out acting like they really care."

But two weeks later, Mom and the kids were in for a big surprise. On July 14, Coby Vander Kooy, of Lennox, told Argus Leader her 6-year-old son, Kees, was returning home from swimming lessons when he discovered the turtle.

"My son came inside and said 'Mom, there's a turtle outside!' Coby Vander Kooy said. "He found it on the road in front of our house … I thought if we left it alone, there's a good chance it could get run over."

After bringing the missing turtle inside and unsuccessfully trying to feed it some lettuce (Scoot prefers bugs and fruits), Coby Vander Kooy posted photos of the discovery to the community Facebook page.

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Sharita Knobloch said she was completely baffled by how Scoot managed to leave his enclosure. She said this gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground was the only opening she could have used to escape, but she added his shell is too big to squeeze through the space.
Sharita Knobloch said she was completely baffled by how Scoot managed to leave his enclosure. She said this gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground was the only opening she could have used to escape, but she added his shell is too big to squeeze through the space.

"Right away, somebody commented saying that was their turtle," Coby Vander Kooy said.

Within 25 minutes, Lex Knobloch stopped by to scoop up Scoot following her little adventure. Scoot's return happened in the nick of time, since the Knoblochs planned to leave within the week.

Soon after, Lex recorded the siblings' emotional reunion with their beloved turtle. Sharita Knobloch told the kids to turn around and close their eyes before showing them their found pet.

In the video, the siblings both covered their mouths in shock.

"Oh my gosh! How'd you find her?" Charis said, while her brother exclaimed "It's Scoot!"

This enclosure, once used to house a dog, was repurposed to give Scoot a place to stay during the Knoblochs' vacation in Lennox, South Dakota.
This enclosure, once used to house a dog, was repurposed to give Scoot a place to stay during the Knoblochs' vacation in Lennox, South Dakota.

A little turtle in a big city

But this may not have been Scoot's first big escape, the family said.

Charis prayed for a pet turtle. She had petitioned for a year, from the beginning of 2020 to the end.

Her mother wasn't exactly keen on the idea, so she left it up to the powers that be. 2021 saw her wish granted when mom, daughter and son found something strange lying in the middle of the road while walking around their El Paso, Texas neighborhood one January morning.

El Paso is more than three times the size of Sioux Falls. They knew what they were seeing was definitely an animal, but finding wildlife in the urban sprawl of a Texas city is pretty unusual for them, Sharita Knobloch said. So, they had their doubts.

As the Knoblochs walked closer, they realized the lumpy brown object was actually a desert box turtle — a year of praying was suddenly realized for Charis.

"We picked her up and noticed she had a missing front foot. I mean, she was all healed and moving just fine, but we didn't want her to get run over by a vehicle, so we picked her up, brought her home," Sharita Knobloch said.

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Charis Knobloch of El Paso, Texas poses for a photo with her pet desert box turtle named Scoot
Charis Knobloch of El Paso, Texas poses for a photo with her pet desert box turtle named Scoot

At first, the circumstances didn't seem to line up with what Charis wanted. Sharita Knobloch noticed the turtle seemed to tolerate being picked up and handled. It even seemed to enjoy having its head scratched, so they surmised this turtle might already be someone else's pet.

Mom decided the right thing to do was return the turtle to its owner. She asked her neighbors if anyone might have lost the animal, but no dice. She then posted photos of the lost-and-found turtle to her Facebook page in hopes someone in her online circle would recognize the pet, but no one stepped forward.

After waiting a few days for someone to claim their missing pet with no luck, Sharita Knobloch, while feeling sorry for the folks who no longer had the reptile, decided to keep the turtle.

And their new pet would need a new name.

"We just thought of a name, and we thought of Scooter, and then we cut it short to Scoot," Charis said, with Sharita Knobloch adding, "Even though she has one foot [missing], she was really scooting along. I think that's how we landed on that."

"I was really happy and I couldn't believe we got her," Charis added.

All's well that ends well

Fortunately, the Vander Kooys found Scoot and helped reunite the pet with her loving family.

"There was a lot of hugs and a lot of prayers and a few tears that night," Sharita Knobloch said.

Lex Knobloch said she wasn't surprised by the support from the community. She said the people of Lennox are very tight-knit and neighbors tend to look out for each other.

Malick Knobloch of El Paso, Texas holds his pet desert box turtle named Scoot.
Malick Knobloch of El Paso, Texas holds his pet desert box turtle named Scoot.

"It was really cool to surprise the kids. I'm really glad we got it on video," Sharita Knobloch said. "I've watched that video so many times, because it's just genuine surprise and genuine joy."

"It was a tearful reunion," Lex Knobloch added. "I gave the kids who found her $20 and said, 'Go buy yourself some ice cream or something. Thank you so much for making my granddaughter and my daughter happy.'"

Sharita Knobloch said this made her realize "how wonderful small-town America is" and is looking forward to someday coming back.

Dominik Dausch is the agriculture and environment reporter for the Argus Leader and editor of Farm Forum. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @DomDNP and send news tips to ddausch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota family reunites Texas kids with missing pet turtle