Moment thief steals tortoise from pet shop after picking it up and stuffing it into his coat pocket

This is the moment a man brazenly steals a tortoise from a pet shop by stuffing it into his coat pocket. 

The alleged thief was captured on CCTV walking into Preston Exotic Pets in Lancashire at about 1pm on October 6. 

The man - wearing a black coat, grey joggers and flip flops - can be seen approaching an enclosure containing several Hermann's tortoises. 

He then picks one of the reptiles up and turns it to face him, before putting it down. 

Just seconds later the man picks up the tortoise again and stuffs it in his coat pocket. 

Shop owner Luke Jarvis, 43, said the man had come in several hours earlier and stolen a Horsefield tortoise from its enclosure. 

He said he is concerned for the welfare of the shelled animals as they require specialist heating and ultraviolet UVB lighting to survive. 

Mr Jarvis said: 'If they don't have access to this, they try and enter a hibernation state due to the current weather.

'But the conditions aren't correct at the moment, so they will not enter this stage, and in fact they will just slowly become dehydrated and starve to death.

'Also without the heat, they will be unable to digest and metabolise any food they do eat. 

'It is heartbreaking to know they have been taken, but I'm most concerned about their wellbeing.'

Preston Exotic Pets shared an appeal on social media urging the man to return the reptiles. 

'Any info on this man, he took two tortoises from us on Tuesday 6th,' the post said. 

'These guys need specialist equipment to survive which I highly doubt he has, you have till the end of the day to return them.'

Viewers were quick to share their shock at the alleged theft. 

'How awful. I hope they get returned unharmed,' one person wrote. 

'This is insane I hope they are okay,' another said.  

Mr Jarvis said the tortoises have not been returned and that the incident has been reported to Lancashire Police. 

He said: 'It's quite sad really because we were in Blackpool for 10 years and we didn't have any kind of shoplifting issues in Blackpool.

'We opened in March here, and this is the third person now that I've caught.'

While the two previous incidents involved stolen stock, this was the first time somebody had taken live animals from the shop.

He added: 'He was the first person to steal animals. The others were just stealing.

'One stole bird food, another one stole a lot of statues off the shelf.'

 Mr Jarvis said the theft had prompted him to review how the tortoises are housed within the store.

The business relocated from Blackpool to Fylde Road in Ashton-on-Ribble earlier this year after a decade on the coast.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the shop or police.

Lancashire Police told the Daily Mail: 'We received a report of a theft of two tortoises on 6 October. Enquiries into the report and to locate the tortoises are ongoing, and we are asking for anyone with information that could assist those enquiries to get in touch on 101 quoting log 0591 of 8 October.'