A Los Angeles family who had their pet tortoise stolen and claim that it was abused by a "heartless and evil man" are asking the public to help locate it.
On Sunday around 3 p.m. and 4 pm., Gustavo Mendoza and Jennifer Tapia of Panorama City, California, discovered their tortoise was missing after seeing surveillance footage from their home, KTLA reported.
"We couldn't find her anywhere, so we looked at our surveillance footage," Tapia told the outlet. "We saw this guy that picked her up, and he pretty much abused her and was kicking her around."
The video revealed a suspect who not only took the tortoise, which was a rescue, but also mistreated it during the theft.
In the footage, a man reached through the family home's gate, flipping the tortoise onto its back with a stick and then violently throwing it over the gate.
The family had the pet for five years and desperately want answers, asking the public to help with any information.
"We're just scared because we don't know who it is...if it's one of our neighbors," Tapia said. "It's sad to know that this is happening in our community and that someone could do this to an animal."
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