Thief caught on security camera putting tortoises in her purse

A woman in Rotterdam, New York, has been arrested after she was caught on camera stealing two tortoises from a pet store on January 24.

Everything Pets shared footage of the incident on their Facebook page on January 28, asking for help from the public.

"Another outstanding citizen – this one brought a child along with her to steal 2 tortoises by shoving them into her purse," the post said.

The woman can be seen reaching in to the tank as the child's back is turned and then placing the two baby Sulcata tortoises worth £230 ($300) each in her purse.

"My associate was only out of the room for maybe five minutes making their food," Assistant Manager Mariah Darconte told NewsChannel 13.

"The woman came in and as you can see it's a little small in here so she figured I'll step out to go make the salads give her some space to look at the animals if she has questions she'll come to me, so when things like this happen our immediate response is, are they Ok, what is she doing with them?" Darconte said.

Though the tortoises have shells, when they are young they are still very fragile and need to be kept in a warm environment.

"They need heat lamps, UV bulbs it's so cold outside on top of that so the exposure to just being thrown in a bag and then brought out into the cold like that is jarring to say the least," Darconte added.

Thankfully, the shop's Facebook post was later updated to announce the woman had been arrested after 12-15 people sent private messages to the store's Facebook page all reporting the same name. The pet shop shared that the turtles were back at the shop and appeared to be doing well.