In a bizarre incident, a 150-pound tortoise was found wandering in the US city of Alhambra and was captured by police after a brief chase.
When found, "the tortoise did try to make a run for it, but our officers are pretty fast," the Alhambra Police Department said on its Facebook page.
Handcuffs, it noted, were "not practical in this situation." The tortoise is named Clark and belongs to an Alhambra family, the department said.
The animal was spotted Saturday, and police took it to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.
Ruth Jauregui, who works at the county animal care center in Downey, told the Los Angeles Times that Clark was too big to fit in a cage there, "so it was on the floor a little bit, walking around."
She said she heard the tortoise took the opportunity to escape from home while its owners were at a ballgame.
"I think it pushed something out of the way and got out and it went a few houses down" before a neighbour saw it and called police, she was quoted as saying.
The tortoise's excursion ended midday Sunday, when its owners arrived to take it home.
California law allows people to keep all types of tortoises as pets, although permits are required for certain desert tortoises.
Based on photographs taken by police, the animal was identified as a sulcata tortoise, a species native to Africa. Experts said Clark looked to be in good health and looked like an 18- to 20-year-old male. Sulcatas can live 75 to 100 years.
