A Bellevue family who lost their pet more than a year ago got a special surprise, thanks to a neighbor's kindness.
Mallory Hinkley has had "Westman," her pet tortoise, since high school.
"When I got him, I was 18 and he was 28 or something. And now I'm 29," Hinkley said. "So he's about 40."
About a year ago, Westman went missing. Hinkley posted flyers around her neighborhood, looking for her lost tortoise. But Westman never showed up.
Fast forward to May of this year, when Barb Berkau and her husband were walking their dog in the same neighborhood.
"Our neighbors came out with a box and a cool old tortoise...this old guy (King Westman) came into their yard and they found him," recalled Berkau.
"We saw a poster for a lost turtle about a year ago....about 2-3 miles from our house."
The neighbor was digging a new organic vegetable garden when she spotted something peculiar.
"I looked a little closer and spotted movement and it was coming over this giant mound of dirt that I hadn't dealt with yet," recalled the neighbor. "And it was this turtle or tortoise."
She couldn't keep the turtle, so Berkau took him in.
"I made a safe place for him in our yard and began the 'journey,'" Berkau added. "Once we got him home, I got in the car and started canvassing areas where I thought I remember seeing signs about a lost turtle, even though I knew it was a long time ago."
"I must have talked to about 20-25 people," said Berkau. "I just did a stalker drive by and said, 'Do you live here? Do you know anyone who owns a turtle."
"My mom texted me at work with just a picture of her holding Westman," said Hinkley. "I was like, Oh my god. Is that my turtle?"
"Somehow he survived the winter all by himself and traveled a mile and a half on his own," said Hinkley. "So it pays to know your neighbors. Somebody's going to find your turtle."
