ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – One of 2 threatened tortoises was returned Wednesday to a popular St. Augustine tourist attraction after being taken late in 2015.
The unusual reptiles were discovered at a house in St. Petersburg Tuesday night — among them lived; the other one was dead.
Police jailed 2 males, 46-year-old Joshua McCarty-Thomas, and another man who has actually not been called.
McCarty-Thomas is dealing with charges associated with the theft. Police said charges associated with the case are pending for the other man.
Investigators said the 2 tortoises were taken from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in broad daytime when the park was open to visitors on Nov. 27.
It has actually been a tight spot for the zoological park’s director John Brueggen and his staff.
“There’s been heartache and there’s been concern,” Brueggen said. “The staff has been here, agonizing over what happened to their tortoises. These are young tortoises. They were born in 2017 and we were growing them up. They could live up to 150 years if they are cared for correctly. But they are endangered species for a reason.”
Officer Dee Brown with the St. Augustine Police Department said the 2 males understood what they were doing. After seeing more than 100 hours of security video, detectives saw how whatever played out.
“These two gentlemen that came in, they scoped out the place,” Brown said. “They came in with a baby stroller, hopped over an enclosure, and put the tortoises in the stroller and walked right out of the alligator farm.”
According to Brueggen, juvenile Galapagos tortoises can offer on the black market for as much as $10,000.
Brown said there was a break in the case when somebody saw tortoises in a backyard in St. Petersburg. Police browsed your home and discovered among the tortoises alive Tuesday night. The other was discovered dead in a freezer.
“It is bittersweet,” Brueggen said. “We lost one. We are sad about that. We are thrilled to have the other one come home.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife identified the tortoises belonged in St. Augustine due to their microchips.
Brown said it was a relief to learn what took place.
“[The alligator farm] is a big part of our community,” he said. “Make no mistake, this is an icon of St. Augustine.”
Brueggen said the enduring tortoise will be analyzed by vets from the University of Florida on Thursday.
It heads to quarantine and will be far from the general public for a minimum of 90 days since the staff does not understand what it was exposed to while it was gone.
The exact same vets will carry out a necropsy on the other tortoise to identify how it passed away.
Brueggen said modifications have actually been made to ideally avoid this from ever taking place once again.
“(We’ve gone) to great lengths to triple our security,” Brueggen said. “There are so many extra cameras. Now in our park, you cannot walk in or out without seeing everybody and what everybody’s doing.”
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