Scuttle the tortoise home after eight-month wander

A runaway tortoise called Scuttle is back home after an eight-month disappearance.

The roaming reptile went missing from its enclosure at Cusgarne near Truro, Cornwall in August 2025, and its owners were worried it had gone forever.

But earlier this month Scuttle was found at the bottom of a neighbouring field, none the worse for its adventures.

Owner Fiona Sherriff, 58, said: "I was just elated and so grateful to my neighbours for finding her."

She said Scuttle had been in her family since she was a girl, and she felt "upset and mortified and embarrassed" when it escaped.

"She's been a naughty girl, although she didn't actually go that far away," said Sherriff.

"When she was found a few weeks ago she was actually at the bottom of the neighbouring field so she had obviously found somewhere she preferred.

"I have no idea why she escaped, she's got a life of luxury here, it's a palace for a tortoise.

"My fingers were so crossed that she had managed to find somewhere safe and it seems like she did.

"We had so much rain, she could have got flooded out, she could have got eaten by rats, foxes, badgers, she could have got run over, but she found herself a safe place, bless her!"

The Sherriff family believe Scuttle is a Hermann's tortoise and about 70 years old but do not know its exact age.

Sherriff added: "When we were kids we were given the opportunity to name it and because it ran so fast it got called Scuttle."

The tortoise is now safely back in its enclosure with its fellow tortoise Pickford, being spoiled with large quantities of dandelions and lettuce.

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