And Now There Are 10 : Roving Turtles Return to Fold

The tale of the missing turtles of Canoga Park is over. It had a happy ending, though curious.

All four of the missing are now home. And they’ve been joined by five others whose owners apparently never reported them missing.

It may be recalled that three weeks ago the idylls of spring were interrupted in the Canoga Park backyard of Jean Shmitka when four of her five pet turtles turned up missing after a gate was accidentally left open.

“I was just devastated,” Shmitka said upon discovering the loss.

Her sense of loss was heightened because one of the turtles, named Gerd, had just come of age. Shmitka got Gerd, a desert tortoise, 20 years ago. He was only as big as a silver dollar then and she named him Gertrude because she thought he was a she.

Hopes for Offspring

When Gertrude recently matured and turned out to be a male turtle, Shmitka decided he needed a mate. Clem, her second desert tortoise, was an older male. Chuy and Touche, her other two turtles, were of a smaller variety called box turtles.

So Shmitka changed Gertrude’s name to Gerd and got Marion. She was looking forward to finding turtle eggs in her yard soon.

That’s when her husband, Jim, called her at work one afternoon to tell her they were gone. Only Clem could be found.

Shmitka immediately made up dozens of cardboard signs and tacked them onto telephone poles around the neighborhood.

Gerd was the first to be recovered. Someone found him and called the number on the sign.

The recovery of Chuy and Touche was anticlimactic. They were just hiding under a bathtub Shmitka had put in her yard as a planter.

The possibly pregnant Marion hadn’t gone far, either, but almost got out of reach, anyway. Someone who lived down the street found her and already had given her to a friend. Upon learning her true identity, the friend was willing to let Marion return home.

Momentum Builds

Long before all that, however, the turtle story was building momentum.

Shmitka got a call from a woman in Van Nuys who had found a box turtle.

Shmitka thought it was Chuy. But, when she got there, she saw that its coloring was motley. Chuy is not motley.

A day later, the woman called back.

“I talked it over with my family,” she told Shmitka. “I ‘d like you to have Motley.”

Shmitka said, “I’d love to.”

Two more box turtles, Jake and Eleanor, joined the family after that.

Then Turina, another desert tortoise with a small hole drilled in her shell, was delivered.

Shmitka took her in, too.

“I love them all,” she said.

She even loves Rambo, though he may not deserve it.

A Troublemaker

A man found Rambo trudging down the street and thought it might be Marion.

“He brought him and I turned him over and said, ‘Tis not Marion. Tis not Marion,’ ” Shmitka said.

But she kept him.

Rambo got his name from actor Sylvester Stallone. He spends his days hulking around the yard bashing into the other turtles and even inanimate objects such as the bird bath.

Whenever he runs into Turina or Marion he initiates the turtle mating ritual by crashing his shell into the object of his amour and biting her on the legs. They’re supposed to be love bites, Shmitka said. But Rambo shows his teeth and bites down ferociously.

“Gerd is classier,” Shmitka said Wednesday afternoon, when Rambo found Turina.

“Hey, Rambo! You’re not supposed to do that,” she hollered.

Rambo didn’t listen.

“Marion still likes Gerd,” Shmitka said. “I don’t blame her. I think Marion made a good choice.”

Maybe. But when Rambo got tired of Turina and made a move on Marion, Gerd didn’t do anything to stop him.