A tortoise is missing after escaping from its home in the hills of Santa Fe. 

Frankie is a 20-year-old African spurred tortoise that came with the house Allyson Quigley purchased when she moved to New Mexico.  

“Honestly, disbelief. I was like – are you? What?! How do I lose a 150-pound tortoise? How do I do that?” Quigley said, according to KOB.

The tortoise apparently busted through a metal bar and went on the run. “It’s like completely bent down there, too, so I can’t even put that back,” she told KOB. “That gate had held up for 18 years and somehow he just broke it and bent and went. I went out hiking and tried to find him. I saw a lot of rocks that look like him, but I never found him.”

Apparently, this isn’t the first time Frankie has gotten loose. He was found several highways away on the opposite side of Cerillos the last time he went on a walkabout. “He’s gotten out about 10 times in the past,” Quigley said. “He’s looking for his previous owners.”

Frankie’s previous owners apparently tried to combat his wandering by painting their phone number on his shell. “He’s on an adventure. He’s out there somewhere,” Quigley said. 

Anyone who finds Frankie is encouraged to call that number. Other tortoises have gone missing in the state. In 2019, a Roswell woman lost a 100-pound tortoise that was later found. Two years earlier, a man in Eldorado found his tortoise who had escaped for a second time.