STANDARD-EXAMINER ; Homer's odyssey at Ogden federal building

STANDARD-EXAMINER (Ogden, Utah) 15 September 05 Homer's odyssey at Ogden federal building - Roy man upset at the loss of pet tortoise (Charles F. Trentelman)
Ogden: Talk about speed: Two days ago he was just a lost tortoise, lumbering around the Ogden Animal Control front office, nibbling dandelions.
Now he's Homer, a federal case with an owner who may never see him again.
That owner, Robert Quick, of Roy, got so angry at losing what he thought was just a pet turtle that he was escorted from the Ogden federal building Wednesday afternoon.
Homer is not just a turtle, however. He was identified as a gopher tortoise by an agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which means he is federally protected. Homer was found late last week by Roy animal control officer Ben Reeve, wandering loose, half a block from Quick's home.
Reeve didn't know what he had, and the critter had no ID tag, so he took it to Ogden Animal Services. Workers there tentatively identified it as a gopher tortoise, probably male. They kept the tortoise in the front office, unclaimed, until Wednesday when the Standard-Examiner ran a story.
Quick saw the story and recognized Homer, who he thought was a box turtle. He said he found Homer wandering loose in town two years ago and took him home as a pet.
Homer lived in Quick's backyard, where he dug a den and lived on grass clippings and vegetables. Homer is fond of fruit, Quick said, and iceberg lettuce. Quick said he has been frantically looking for Homer since Saturday when he noticed the back gate open.
John Neal, an agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement office, said Wednesday, Homer looks enough like a gopher tortoise to him that "we are proceeding in that direction."
Which means, he said, that the federal government won't be giving Homer back to Quick. A gopher tortoise is native to Florida and the Gulf Coast and is a federally protected species.
"We're going to be sure it has a good home," Neal said. "The problem with a tortoise like that in Utah is that they're not exactly adapted to winters in the Wasatch Mountains, and we're going to be sure it goes someplace its survival is a little more assured."
That could be "either a public institution or used for educational purposes," he said. "So that's what we're going to do."
Quick could not be contacted Wednesday afternoon. His daughter, Jillian Quick, said her father was so upset over the incident that he had gone to a hospital to have his heart checked.
She said Neal "was really rude, he told him it doesn't matter where this turtle is going, and if you or your family goes near this turtle we will have you arrested," she said.
Neal confirmed that his meeting with Quick did not go well.
He said Quick came to his office to try to get the tortoise back and became upset when he was told he could not have it.
The conversation got so heated that Quick "had to be escorted from the building," Neal said.
Neal said Homer will stay at the Ogden shelter until he makes other arrangements.
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