Marsha Montgomery was losing hope.
After weeks of searching with friends, neighbors, tracking dogs, and drones, there was still no sign of Voldetort.
Her beloved 80-pound giant tortoise had vanished from her heavily wooded property off Farm Creek Road near Silo Road in St. Augustine on June 6. Days passed without any sightings, and false alarms along the way only brought flickers of unfounded hope.
But at roughly 9 a.m. this morning, Montgomery’s fading prayers were answered.
As she and a group of concerned neighbors mounted one more search around her home, she heard a scream.
“I thought someone saw a snake,” Montgomery recalled.
Then her phone rang. The voice on the line said Voldetort had been found—tucked under some palm fronds and vines. Panting, Montgomery asked if he was alive.
While famished and disoriented, Voldetort—who has a life expectancy of more than 100 years—was alert and breathing.
“When I saw him, I was just in tears,” she told The Citizen Sunday. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
He was found about 700 feet from where he had originally gone missing on the family’s 24-acre property.
After nearly three weeks in the wild, the tortoise was hungry and parched. Montgomery said he immediately gulped down water, hay, and some of his special pellets.
She believes he hadn’t eaten much while he was missing, and that he doesn’t do well outside of his familiar environment. “He’s happy now,” she said. “He’s back home and he’s happy.”
Equally thrilled was Voldetort’s tortoise “brother,” who quickly greeted his old friend after the triumphant return to his enclosure.
Soon after his disappearance, the family had offered a $2,500 reward for Voldetort’s safe return. Montgomery said she plans to meet Theresa, the woman who spotted him this morning, to happily make good on her offer.
“I feel like I’m at peace again,” Montgomery said. “We love him a lot, and I was worried about him out there. Life is good,” she added, her voice catching with emotion.
