Her tortoise went missing after a deadly tornado in Mississippi. Just as she gave up, the phone rang
During natural calamities, unfortunately, priority is given to rescuing humans, often leaving innocent animals to fend for themselves. Imagine how hard it might be for pet parents who, after surviving a deadly disaster, come back to an empty home with no sight or sound of their beloved animal. The hard realization that they might never be able to reunite with their pets again must be heartbreaking, right? Tiffany Emanuel, from Mississippi, experienced something similar when, after escaping a fatal tornado, she found their beloved tortoise, Myrtle, missing. However, thankfully, a few weeks later, Emanuel received a phone call that allayed her worst dreams, giving her hope of reuniting with Myrtle, the Associated Press reported.
Emanuel shared that they had a few moments before they could escape from the tornado approaching their residence. When she went to the backyard, Emanuel realized that the two pine trees had fallen on the tortoise's house. "Myrtle's house had kind of been completely demolished. And right then and there, I guess I kind of got a little nervous because I thought maybe he might have been in there," she recalled about the horrifying incident. When Emanuel left her house in March, she perhaps had no hope of ever seeing Myrtle again. Luckily, fate had a different plan.
On April 4, Christy Milbourne, an official from the Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue, got a phone call from a lady informing her that she had found an injured animal she believed was a sulcata tortoise. Myrtle was immediately rushed to the rescue for medical treatment. Notably, the woman who had called Milbourne also shared that she had already called the turtle's owner. Emanuel immediately reached out to Milbourne, wanting to know about Myrtle. "She had sort of made peace with the fact that she would probably never see him again," Milbourne said.
Fortunately, she reunited with her cherished tortoise in what can be called a miraculous turn of events. "It feels good to kind of have some kind of happy out of so much sadness and grief and loss. I know that he knows just as much as I do that every step of the way I’m going to be there helping him, caring for him, making sure he gets, you know, the help that he needs," Emanuel shared with the outlet.
In another story, a kind stranger rescued a sea turtle stuck between coastal rocks at a Hawaiian beach. An individual who goes by u/westcoastcdn19 on Reddit shared a video capturing the man helping the turtle get back into the water. Initially, for a brief moment, the man watched the poor turtle struggling to free itself. However, upon understanding the innocent creature's suffering, the compassionate man stepped up to its rescue, yelling "Come on, get out," as he approached the turtle and lifted it. At first, the sea turtle slipped even further down, but the man didn't give up. After a little more push, he finally managed to help the turtle climb back onto the rock's surface, where it was secure. As soon as the turtle realized it was out of the difficult situation, it quickly went back into the ocean.