Safe and sound: Bugsy is reunited with a delighted Mae Cameron after he went missing for five months - only to be found stuck in a wire fence near the family home in West Wickham, CambridgeshireA family were stunned when they found their missing tortoise alive five months after it went missing - stuck in a wire fence.
Bugsy, a Hermann's tortoise, made a bid for freedom when he fled from his hutch in West Wickham, Cambridgeshire, last July.
But he only managed to cover a quarter of a mile before becoming trapped.
He survived by eating the foliage close to him and then hibernating through the mild start to winter.
Home at last: Bugsy poses for a photo with (from left) Mae, Eve, mother Lucy, and CharlieThe Cameron family - surgeon Malcolm, 43, Lucy, 43, Eve, 13, Charlie, 11 and Mae, seven - believe their beloved pet was stuck in the fence for nearly all of the five months he was missing.
They had given up hope of ever finding him when he was spotted rustling in the undergrowth by a friend of the family - coincidentally called Shelly - in December.
Much loved: The Camerons had given up hope of ever finding Bugsy when he was spotted rustling in the undergrowth by a friend of the familyMrs Cameron said: 'We were just so delighted when he returned we could not believe it. We thought he had been stolen or had been killed.
'It is just lucky we had a mild winter up to that point. If he was still there during this current cold patch he would have died.
'I think he must have been stuck there for the majority of the time he went missing its truly amazing he managed to survive.
'If he had not been stuck he would have dug into the ground to hibernate in September.'
source: dailymail
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