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Missing: West Suburban Tortoise

LOMBARD, Ill. (CBS/AP) -- Residents in suburban Chicago should be on the look-out for a 2-foot-long, 45-pound tortoise named Lance.

Susan and Andy Lechner say the African spurred tortoise went missing from their yard in Lombard, where he was last seen grazing on grass last Sunday.

Susan Lechner says Lance was 44 years old, not even halfway through his expected lifespan of 120.

"We've only had him seven years. We pretty much thought we had a pet for life," she tells CBS 2.

Susan Lechner tells the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald that she thinks Lance may have crawled under a fence and been taken by someone. The Lechners have put up signs about their missing tortoise, but he hasn't been returned.

Lance isn't the only Illinois tortoise to go on the lam in recent years. In 2009, a 30-pound African leopard tortoise named Thelma broke out of a fenced-in patio in Swansea but was returned by someone who spotted her along a road after 18 days of freedom.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


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