RETURN OF LANCASTER CARD SHOP'S STOLEN TURTLE TURNS SADNESS TO JOY.Byline: Karen Thacker Special to the Daily News A week after being kidnapped Kidnapped caught in the intrigues of Scottish factions, David Balfour and Alan Breck are shipwrecked, escape from the king’s soldiers, and undergo great dangers. [Br. Lit.: R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped] See : Adventurousness from her terrarium terrarium, a miniature garden in an artificial environment, in which small plants and animals may be kept as ornament or for educational purposes. Fish bowls, small fish tanks, large bottles, and carboys are often employed as containers for terrariums; such vessels behind the counter at AVA's Hallmark shop, Gracie the baby desert tortoise desert tortoise see gopherus agassizii. is back at home with her companion tortoise tortoise (tôr`təs), common name for a terrestrial turtle, especially one of the family Testudinidae. Tortoises inhabit warm regions of all continents except Australia. George. The tiny tortoise, about the size of a silver dollar, was left Saturday at a pet shop two doors down from the Hallmark store. Pet Oasis employees found the tortoise inside a plastic margarine tub that a young man set down beside the fish tanks before walking out. The pet shop workers, who knew about the kidnapping kidnapping, in law, the taking away of a person by force, threat, or deceit, with intent to cause him to be detained against his will. Kidnapping may be done for ransom or for political or other purposes. , called AVA's Hallmark owner Roien Mark. ``As soon as I saw her I knew it was her - she's so tiny,'' Mark said. ``She's still very weak - weaker than before.'' Before her disappearance May 23, Gracie was being fed a special diet through an eye dropper drop·per n. A device that produces drops, especially a small tube with a suction bulb at one end for drawing in a liquid and releasing it in drops. Also called instillator. dropper 1. because of a calcium deficiency calcium deficiency Inadequate supply or metabolism of calcium, the main structural element of bones and teeth. Its metabolism is regulated by vitamin D, phosphorus, and hormones (see parathyroid gland). that made her shell soft. When she was returned - apparently by the same person who took her - one of her shell patches appeared to be falling off. Her return also was good medicine for Mark's husband, Randy, who was in the hospital after having his appendix removed Friday. Roien Mark brought the tortoise to the hospital for a visit Saturday. ``I asked if he (Randy) wanted to hold George and I put Gracie in his hands and I thought he was going to have a heart attack,'' she said. The Marks weren't the only ones missing Gracie. She and companion tortoise George had not been separated since they were born nine months ago. ``When I put her and George together in their terrarium they immediately went nose to nose and went to sleep,'' Roien Mark said. The Marks adopted the tortoises through Desert Tortoise of Victor Valley, a special club for the federally protected species. Because desert tortoise numbers are declining in the wild, they cannot be sold. Since news reports last week on Gracie's disappearance, Roien Mark said, customers have been inquiring about the tortoises. She also has received several telephone calls from people wanting to know how they can raise a tortoise. ``Gracie's little adventure has raised people's awareness toward tortoises,'' Mark said. ``And that's good.'' |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion