Call it Summerville's version of the Great Escape. 

About 1600 turtles are fugitives from David Driver's turtle ponds in Summerville in Chattooga County.  Someone tore down the sheet metal fencing around his ponds on Harrisburg Road. 

Driver suspects it was a prank.  "We had refused some people a right to fish in another pond and I think that was what caused it," he tells WSB.  "They were just mad."

Driver sells the turtles he raises in the U.S. and Asia.  He says turtles end up on the dinner table in China.  "Kind of like we do chicken here; turtle's their chicken," he explains.

Chattooga County Sheriff's Department investigator Matt Hayes tells WSB, he's looking into the possibility of scrap metal theft.  He's checking local scrap yards because the tailgate of Driver's '73 Jeep Cherokee is also missing.

Driver, meanwhile, has been fielding offers from residents to collect the turtles out of their ponds. He hopes to re-stock this week.