This guy's probably not getting employee of the year...

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That tortoise was never stolen.

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- A missing tortoise at a Dubuque aquarium apparently wasn't stolen, but an employee helped carry on that misconception.

Officials at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium now say the 18-pound African leopard tortoise, named Cashew, had crawled behind what was thought to be an impenetrable wall and got stuck.

An employee found Cashew Thursday, but rather than report the find, the employee placed the tortoise on an elevator where visitors later found it. The museum says the employee was "trying to protect the museum and aquarium from looking foolish" and panicked.

"The action taken by the employee Thursday afternoon was wrong,” said museum President Jerry Enzler.

[IADEMO2004]

1. Happy ending for all.

All alive and employed. Move along nothing to see here.