For the past 30 hours or so, a vigorous, curious and fearless Russian tortoise named Topper escaped from his owner’s outdoor playground on Judson Avenue, crawled about 500 feet, missed being run over by a car, endured a veterinary exam, spent the night at Chicago Exotic Animal Rescue and was finally reunited with his grateful owner and caretaker, 15-year-old Jack Mulcahey.
Why did the tortoise cross the road?
About 10:15 a.m. July 2, a father and daughter were driving east on Kedzie Street when they suddenly stopped and pulled into the driveway at 800 Judson Ave. There was an animal, later determined to be a Russian tortoise, in the middle of the street. The teenage daughter ran out, picked up the tortoise and brought it over to her dad and the car…