For turkey, tortoise and humankind alike, it was a happy ending.
Kevin Nortz / The Herald
After a traumatic night and a frustrating Thursday fretting over what might have happened to her pet turkeys and African desert tortoise, Jan Wirth says she is “extremely elated” to have her animal family back together.
Her stolen minivan and the small zoo of animals inside was found Friday about 2:30 p.m. at a bagel shop in Seattle, police said.
The mother turkey, Lady Bird, and her four chicks were in healthy condition, Wirth said. Tiko, the 2-foot-long, 62 pound tortoise, was also OK.
“I almost don’t believe it,” said Wirth, of Everett, who spent Thursday morning alerting reporters about her missing pets and much of Friday telling them about her happy ending.
Wirth, 61, and her husband, Jack Wirth, lost their van Wednesday night when Jack Wirth left his keys in the Dodge Caravan while picking up some coffee at a 7-Eleven in north Seattle. A man jumped in the van and drove off with the vehicle and the animals.
Friday afternoon, Peter Ryan, owner of Bagel Oasis in the 2100 block of NE 65th Street in Seattle, walked out to a parking lot adjacent to his shop and saw a van parked there. He looked closer and realized there were five turkeys and a tortoise inside.
He called over some of the shop workers, including Danny Kessler, and someone eventually realized it was the missing menagerie they had heard about on TV.
“We saw a vehicle with unusual animals in it and thought we should call the police,” Kessler said.
Seattle police spokesman Rich Pruitt called the find “a happy ending for turkeys and turtles.”
When Wirth got the call from police, she went down to the shop, was reunited with her pets and gave the shop workers a $1,000 reward, she said.
“They were in good shape, they weren’t in distress,” she said of the turkeys.
Tiko was doing fine, too, but hadn’t relieved himself in a while.
“Obviously Tiko didn’t go the bathroom, because they would have parked the car sooner,” Wirth said while riding back to Everett in the minivan. “I wish I was home right now.”
Reporter Chris Collins: 425-339-3436 or ccollins@heraldnet.com.
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