Two rare Galapagos tortoises stolen in Florida have been recovered. One died, cops say
An arrest has been made in the abduction of two rare Galapagos tortoises from a Florida alligator farm, but it did not come soon enough for one of the turtles.
When officers raided the suspect’s home, they found one of the tortoises dead and stuck in a freezer, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
The other tortoise — valued at $10,000 — was found roaming the home’s yard like a pet, officials say.
Micro-chip scans revealed they were the juvenile tortoises taken in November from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, about 205 miles northeast of St. Petersburg, officials said.
The tortoises were recovered Tuesday, May 16, as police served a warrant at a home on 10th Street South in St. Petersburg, officials said.
“The St. Petersburg Police Department worked closely with the St. Augustine Police Department when they received a tip that the endangered Galapagos tortoises were possibly at a residence they were investigating for unrelated theft,” St. Augustine police said in a news release.
A 46-year-old man living at the home faces a series of charges, including two counts of burglary and four counts of dealing in stolen property, according to Pinellas County jail records.
Theft charges in connection with the tortoises will be filed by St. Augustine police, officials said.
The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological has assumed custody of the tortoises and says the survivor will be put in quarantine for 90 days. The pair were brother and sister and it’s the female that did not survive, officials said.
A cause of death has not been revealed.
“These endangered species were captive born at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in 2017. They are part of a captive breeding program and require special diets and supplements,” the farm posted Dec. 1 on Facebook.
“It has taken years for us to successfully hatch Galapagos tortoises, and these young were to be part of a Species Survival Plan that makes sure these endangered species are around for generations to come.”
Investigators have not said how the theft occurred, but the two tortoises were reported missing Nov. 30. Galapagos turtles can grow to as large as 600 pounds and live 150 years, experts say.
The suspect’s additional charges are in connection with two book store burglaries in St. Petersburg, which resulted in “the theft of rare books worth thousands of dollars,” police said.
“There is also a warrant for his arrest in the commercial burglary of a store in Ocala, where valuable comic books worth thousands of dollars were stolen. Other cases are pending,” St. Petersburg police said.
St. Petersburg is on Florida’s Gulf Coast, west of Tampa.
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