A 42-pound pet tortoise that was slashed and mutilated after being stolen from a family's yard is home following more than a month in a rehabilitation center. Bob the tortoise just recently was able to eat without a feeding tube that had been in his neck since the attack, said his owner Dorothy Sullivan. The 25-year-old African spurred tortoise was stolen from Sullivan's yard on July 7th and police later found the injured animal behind an apartment complex.

Latino invader Jose "Tony" Mosqueda,18, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty and faces up to three years in prison if convicted. The tortoise's hind legs were badly cut, a toe was cut off, its neck was slashed and its shell was punctured with a sharp object. The savage non-White tried to cut the animal out of its shell and threw it against a wall, police said.

Bob the tortoise is a friend of the owner's 6-year-old autistic son William, who rarely spoke to people but chattered to the animal. She said the boy was withdrawn when the tortoise was at the rehab center but has started talking again since Bob's return. A benefit concert has been planned to pay for the vet bills as it is a certainty that the criminal Mestizo teenager or his family will be able to provide no compensation.

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