Family Cleans Storage Room, Finds Pet Tortoise Missing For 30-Years

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pet tortoise

We all know that tortoises can live incredibly long lives, but did you know that there are certain tortoises that can survive years without food and water?

One family found this out in a very unusual way. This story dates back a few years, but it’s so remarkable, cool and unbelievable — it’s worth sharing!

In 1982, the Almeida family who live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, couldn’t find their pet tortoise after construction workers had worked on the house and left the front door open for too long. They were devastated and searched for her for a very long time, with no luck. The family was forced to assume that their red-footed tortoise had crawled into a forest near their home and lived on in the wild.

Fast forward 30-years to January, 2013 – their father, Lionel Almeida passed away. Lionel had a room on the second floor where he hoarded everything from old furniture to broken electronics and countless old records. The clutter was taking up useful space, and so his children decided it was time remove the clutter and clean out the room.

pet tortoise

When Lionel’s son, Leandro took out a box containing an old record player to the dumpster, a neighbor jokingly asked if he meant to throw away the tortoise that was poking its head out of the box. To Leandro’s amazement, it was their old pet Manuela!

Leandro said to Brazil’s Globo TV:I put the box on the pavement for the rubbish men to collect, and a neighbor said, ‘You’re not throwing out the tortoise as well are you?’ I looked and saw her. At that moment I turned white, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Manuela was reunited with her real owner, Lenita Almeida, Lionel’s daughter who had been given the tortoise when she was a child. She explained why the family had never bothered to check the storage room for Manuela.

Everything my father thought he could fix, he picked up and brought home,” Lenita said. “If he found an old television he thought he might be able to use a part of it to fix another one in the future, so he just kept accumulating things. We never dared go inside that room. We’re all thrilled to have Manuela back. But no one can understand how she managed to survive for 30 years in there, it’s just unbelievable.

When the story first broke, many people thought it was a hoax, or just a made up ‘feel good’ tale. However, that truly wasn’t the case. People wondered how a tortoise could survive that long without food or water. Well, they can – sort of.

Jeferson Pires, a vet in Rio de Janeiro, explained that red-footed tortoises are remarkably resilient and can survive long periods without food or water. “They are particularly resilient and can survive for two to three years without food. In the wild they eat fruit, leaves, dead animals, even feces,” Pires said.

It would appear that the tortoise simply fed on any insects that happen to invade the room over the years. From termites that were attracted to the decaying furniture in the room, to random other insects such as flies and spiders.

Such a cool story! Could you imagine finding your pet 30-years later?