Tortoise returned home after week away

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ST. CHARLES, Mo., June 24 (UPI) -- A tortoise who went missing from his suburban Chicago home last week was found hanging out in a empty pool in St. Charles, Ill.

The Chicago Tribune said the 44-year-old tortoise, who is named Lance, wandered Sunday from has home in Lombard during a barbecue and was picked-up by a man who thought it was a wild animal and took it home to nearby St. Charles.

Lance spent five days in an empty pool, cared for by the man's 10-year-old daughter. A neighbor of the girl contacted Lance's owners, Andy and Susan Lechner, after media reports about the missing tortoise, the newspaper said Sunday.

"We have had a very happy ending to our adventure with the missing tortoise and are eternally grateful for the news coverage that made it possible," Andy Lechner was quoted as saying by the Tribune.