A California family’s pet tortoise made a slow-speed getaway that was somehow just fast enough to escape a massive shed fire that broke out when a heat lamp tipped over.
Leo, a 3-year-old female tortoise, was dozing inside her warm and cozy pen at a Fullerton home while her owners were at a Super Bowl LX party Sunday night.
When the heat lamp tipped over, sparking an inferno that could’ve easily engulfed the cold-blooded pet, Leo snoozed on, according to a video posted on the tortoise’s TikTok.
Moments later, Leo appeared to come to its senses and made an uncharacteristically speedy escape into the yard. The tortoise wandered right up to the family’s pet camera and stared ahead in apparent shock while its abode burned to the ground just a few feet away.
Hyeri Tom, one of Leo’s owners, explained in the caption that their “attentive neighbors” rushed to extinguish the fire, which could’ve spread to their home. Leo was found safely tucked away in a bush, still watching on in horror as its shed was reduced to ashes.
“This could’ve ended very differently,” Tom warned.
Leo isn’t out of the woods just yet. While the tortoise escaped the fire itself, it inhaled copious amounts of smoke in the process.
Tom rushed Leo to an emergency veterinarian in Anaheim Hills on Thursday, fearing the worst after days of lethargy and no appetite. The medical team confirmed that Leo had “some inflammation in her bronchioles” and is undergoing daily saline breathing treatments — in a makeshift “hot box.”
While the beloved tortoise, who has garnered upwards of 6,000 adoring fans, is still shaken by its death-defying escape, Tom assured they are working on building a “stronger house” for their “brave girl.”
Leo’s captive audience had a field day with the tortoise’s breakneck getaway.
“He said I got another 100 years to live, I ain’t going out like this,” one user commented.
“I think your turtle is tryna escape & fake its death & your neighbors snitched,” another joked.
“He looks like a soldier that just blew the enemies camp and is now finding a way out,” another added.
Leo isn’t the only tortoise who’s inched a tad too close to the sun.
In 2019, one “angry” 45-year-old British tortoise set its family’s Essex home on fire on Christmas Day — and gave its rescuers some serious stink eye.
