'Life Sentence' for Traffic-Slowing Tortoise

A tortoise that managed to create quite a traffic jam recently now faces a life sentence courtesy of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies.

There’s no need to pull out the picket signs, however, the lawbreaking critter will now spend out its days at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter. The sanctuary, which houses a variety of rescued Florida critters, is anticipated to provide a place for the creature to move as fast – or slow – as it wants.

The tortoise, it seems, was busted by deputies Wednesday after it was found wandering along Gateway Boulevard, west of Lawrence Road. Deputies, the sheriff’s office explained on Facebook, “pulled the critter over” as it was “travelling (slowly) westbound on Gateway.”

While it’s clear the creature was promptly placed into the back of a cruiser and taken to serve out its sentence, the sheriff’s office hasn’t said if it was read its rights.

See Also:

• 100-Pound Tortoise Creates Stir in Sarasota
• Mail-Eating Monkey Caught by Cops

Those who want to pay the errant tortoise a visit can check out the sanctuary at 2500 Jupiter Park Drive. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is also home to such other critters as alligators, bald eagles, bobcats, foxes, bears, owls, raccoons, parrots and more.

Palm Beach deputies aren’t the only ones to have wrangled a traffic-slowing tortoise in recent history. Sarasota deputies were called out to “apprehend” a 100-pound tortoise last year after it managed to break out of its owner’s backyard and onto Webber Street.

Police in Sanford, however, may have had the strangest close encounter with an animal on record in recent months. An escaped macaque named Zeek broke out of its cage and turned a residential street into its own personal playground. Zeek managed to eat a neighbor’s mail, swing on a signpost and damage a cop’s cruiser before police ended his monkey business. Zeek got off easy with a warning and was remanded into the custody of his owner.

Photo courtesy of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office