Tortoise back home at Pinal County ranch after highway escape

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. - An adventurous tortoise is back home on Sunday after being spotted on the side of the road.

The tortoise's owner is praising the driver and Arizona DPS Troopers' quick responses.

"Someone called into the highway patrol and said there was a tortoise trying to cross the I-10," Danna Cogburn, ranch owner, said.

It's not an everyday occurrence for the owners of the Rooster Cogburn Ostritch Ranch – a tortoise managing to escape its enclosure.

"I was surprised he had gone as far as he did," Cogburn said.

Earlier this week, during bad monsoon storms in Pinal County, the door to the tortoise's home blew open. Most of them got out into their fenced-off enclosure.

"Stitch, however, found the one small hole, and he was the only one small enough to fit through it," Cogburn said.

The employees at the ranch were searching all morning for Stitch when they got the call about a driver seeing him trying to cross I-10. Deputies brought Stich back home safely.

"They came out and found one of our employees and handed Stitch over the fence to him," Cogburn said.

The owners say they're grateful for the driver who called to report Stitch on the road, and the members of law enforcement who helped get him back home safely.

"Thank goodness a Good Samaritan did the right thing and rescued him and brought him home," Cogburn said. "We’re glad everything turned out fine and everyone got a chuckle out of it."

If you want to meet Stich yourself, the ranch is open most days of the week. More information can be found here.