{"id":7740,"date":"2026-08-25T22:08:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7740"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:08:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:08:51","slug":"hes-the-family-pet-tortoise-escapes-from-south-bay-familys-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7740","title":{"rendered":"‘He’s the family pet’: Tortoise escapes from South Bay family’s home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It took only 15 minutes for the owners of 31-year-old tortoise Sheldon to notice that he had broken through the fence of their residence in the unincorporated Santa Clara County community of Coyote and escaped. But by the time they made it outside, he had disappeared.<\/p>\n

Read more Caltrans repaves Highway 17 in Santa Cruz Mountains<\/a><\/p>\n

A week and a half later, Sheldon is still missing \u2013 and his family is asking anyone who spots the tortoise to help them bring him home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take on a pet like a tortoise, you have to set up almost like a will for him because a tortoise is a lifelong commitment for everybody. The tortoise will probably outlive me,\u201d said Sheldon\u2019s owner Chris Alton, 30. \u201cWe were planning on keeping Sheldon for the rest of our lives, essentially. So of course the tortoise means a whole lot to all of us \u2013 he\u2019s the family pet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tortoises can travel about a mile to two per day, at times moving as quickly as a human\u2019s walking speed, Alton said. They may move faster if motivated by something interesting, like food.<\/p>\n

The challenge of finding Sheldon is amplified because he does not have a microchip like many other family pets do, as the vet Alton took him to did not have the resources or ability to chip a tortoise, he added.<\/p>\n

Sheldon is not the first tortoise to venture out onto Bay Area streets in recent weeks. A 40-pound tortoise named Bernie stopped traffic in Orinda earlier this month.<\/p>\n

After Sheldon left his home around 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 14, a woman spotted him walking near the Coyote Post Office on Monterey Road, Alton said. She reported the sighting to a ranger down the street, who drove over and saw him on the other side of the road. By the time he made a U-turn to get him, the tortoise had disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems to think someone picked up the tortoise,\u201d Alton said, as that would be pretty fast for the animal to disappear from sight.<\/p>\n

Read more Kurtenbach: The Valkyries loudly announced themselves as legitimate WNBA title contenders. Too bad the league is hitting pause<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Alton has spent hours out searching for his beloved pet since he disappeared, even trekking out with a flashlight some nights after getting home from work around midnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tracked through creeks, I\u2019ve tracked through all of the brush,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty rural area over there, but I\u2019ve been through all of it. Many hours, many days. No luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been other tortoise sightings in the area since Sheldon disappeared, but none of these have been Sheldon, Alton said. He can tell because Sheldon\u2019s tusks, located under his neck, were trimmed down by a vet.<\/p>\n

Alton added that Sheldon, who weighs about 80 pounds, does not burrow like other tortoises because he built him an insulated house with a heater to go in at night.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just worried that he\u2019s either cold or, they drink a lot of water, so he\u2019s probably looking for a water source,\u201d Alton said.<\/p>\n

Sheldon eats orchard hay as the bulk of his diet and also loves watermelon, Alton added.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has spotted Sheldon or may have a lead to his whereabouts should contact Alton at 408-833-3061.<\/p>\n

Read more High school football 2026 preseason rankings: Bay Area News Group Top 25<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had him six, seven years now,\u201d Alton added. \u201cWe miss Sheldon a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe were planning on keeping Sheldon for the rest of our lives,” said owner Chris Alton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n‘He’s the family pet’: Tortoise escapes from South Bay family’s home - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7740\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"‘He’s the family pet’: Tortoise escapes from South Bay family’s home - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWe were planning on keeping Sheldon for the rest of our lives," said owner Chris Alton.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7740\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-25T22:08:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"‘He’s the family pet’: Tortoise escapes from South Bay family’s home\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-25T22:08:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740\"},\"wordCount\":594,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4938ece885a910a9853e0d2a86f01622.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7740\",\"name\":\"‘He’s the family pet’: Tortoise escapes from South Bay family’s home - 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