Rancho Santa Fe Patrol helps wayward tortoise

Rancho Santa Fe Patrol officers performed one of their more unusual public service duties last month, helping a wayward tortoise return home after escaping from his outdoor pen in the Ranch.

The officers responded to a call on Los Morros in late July when a resident discovered a 120-pound tortoise stuck on its back in her front yard. Officers Guy Lemieux and Rick Petoscia found the reptile, flipped it over and returned it to its home on La Bajada.

A couple of days later, the same tortoise was found in a horse corral. Again, Officers Lemieux and Gilbert Garcia loaded the tortoise into a wheelbarrow and then into the back of the patrol car before returning him to his pen at his home.

In addition to tortoises, the RSF Patrol has herded horses, pot-bellied pigs and a goose.