A PENSIONER from Stroud is appealing for thieves to return her beloved pet tortoise Roadrunner, who is around 80-years-old.

Shirley Lautieri, 72, who has owned the tortoise for more than 40 years, said she was “bitterly disappointed” to find her much-loved pet gone.

Roadrunner was stolen from her secure run in Shirley’s garden in Folly Lane last Wednesday, May 13.

Mrs Lautieri, who lives with her husband Nicandro, said: “We’ve been looking after her ever since my daughters and I adopted her over 40 years ago.

“She was a special pet, like one of the family really. I was so sad when I found out she had been stolen.

“It’s the not knowing whether she is alive or dead that is the hard part.”

Mrs Lautieri, who has lived in the Stroud area all her life, awoke last week to find Roadrunner’s bedding had been pulled out and scattered across the garden, and his bedding box gone.

“Roadrunner’s fence is quite high so I’m positive she hasn’t escaped,” she added.

“She lives on a diet of cabbage and cucumber and weighs over 4lbs, so it’s unlikely that she was taken by an animal like a fox."

Anyone with any information about the tortoise’s whereabouts should call 101 quoting incident number 339 of May 13.