HIGHLAND, Ind. (AP) — A 60-pound tortoise that escaped from a family's garage last month is back home after a 2½-week adventure lumbering around three northwestern Indiana towns.

Tank, an 8-year-old African spur thigh tortoise, was returned home Wednesday to owners Mark and Kim Hirchak after they called Munster police to report him missing.

The couple had earlier called Highland and Hammond police, but Munster knew all about their missing reptile, which had turned up a gas station not long after his escape.

During his absence, Tank had been shuttled between various homeowners, including a couple whose backyard strawberry patch and flowers became his dinner.

Fourteen-year-old Kylie Hirchak said Tank, who escaped when someone left a garage door open, is like a member of the family. He's one of two tortoises the family owns.

"I'm really happy. It feels like we just found our lost brother or something," she said after Highland resident Jeff Dixon returned Tank home in a van.

Her 12-year-old sister, Kelsie, had feared that Tank had fallen into a ditch or that someone put him in a pond and he drowned.

Tank's days of freedom weren't his first. During a Fourth of July party last year, he made a break for it and was found three days later at a post office about three miles away.

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Information from: The Times, http://nwitimes.com