INSIDE SCOOP

-- Compiled by Daily Pilot staff

After an all points bulletin was issued in College Park, Tex the

prodigal turtle, mosied on back to his home at the mayor’s.

Costa Mesa Mayor Linda Dixon said she found her beloved reptile last

week while doing some “serious gardening” in her yard -- also known as

turtle paradise. She had moved and shifted the turtle house, which serves

as a luxury abode for Tex and his two female roommates.

A few minutes later, she saw her treasured tortoise wandering around

the backyard. Tex, a 25- to 35-year-old Texan desert tortoise, quickly

used his notorious under bite to chomp on ample amounts of hibiscus and

dandelions. He was also extremely thirsty and Dixon made sure to soak him

to quench his thirst.

The mayor said Tex’s shell was extremely scuffed.

“I guess he must have just lodged himself so far under the turtle

house that he couldn’t get out,” Dixon said.

Welcome back Tex.