Two young girls have allegedly stolen a pub's turtle from its tank, with the 'extremely upsetting' moment caught by the establishment's CCTV.

'Squirt' the turtle was seen being lifted out of his enclosure at Three Tuns pub in Ashwell, Hertfordshire, on Friday evening before the youngsters ran with the animal to their mother's white BMW.

Bosses immediately notified the police as soon as they saw the reptile missing from its tank and trawled through their own CCTV to try to track down the culprit.

They also searched nearby springs and surrounding areas in case Squirt had been left outside rather than taken back to the children's home.

A reward has since been offered for the safe return of Squirt due to concern over the welfare of the turtle, who is said to require specific care, such as controlled water temperature. 

'Being removed from its habitat could seriously affect its health and may even result in its death unless it has been properly cared for since being taken,' the owners said.

In a distressing Facebook post, the pub shared the CCTV showed 'the two children repeatedly entering and leaving the room over a period of around seven minutes'.

'At approximately 6:41pm, they are seen removing a turtle from its heated tank. 

'The footage then appears to show them attempting to hide the turtle before leaving via the patio, walking down the garden, through the garden gate, across our car park, and towards the springs.'

By sharing the images of the girls, the pub hoped that locals would be able to alert the girls' parents of Squirt's abduction and return him to his home. 

However, in a later update, they detailed that the mother enters the pub at around 6pm, proceeds to order a coke but drops the glass when it is served - she then walks towards the springs outside.

As the glass smashes and staff help clear it up, the two children - who were wearing matching green-and-white striped jumpsuits - then repeatedly go up to Squirt's tank where they 'try and take the turtle but get scared when customers kept walking past'.

With the younger girl as an alleged lookout, the elder child takes the turtle out of his tank and the younger child moves in front 'acting as a screen' as they head towards the springs.

The pub initially believed that the mother of the two girls was unaware that the children had allegedly taken Squirt and smuggled him into the car.

But CCTV footage of the exterior of the pub shows the children holding the turtle walking alongside their mother as they head towards the building from the springs after about 10 minutes.

The pub wrote: 'The footage shows the adult female remaining near the corner of the building while one child walks towards the springs entrance.

'The adult female and the second child are then seen returning to the vehicle at around 18:49, after which the group leave the area.'

Three Tuns said they had been tipped off with an address of a suspected family, with the General Manager attending their home on Monday.

The pub claim that the mother first said they did not visit the Three Tuns on that date, but allegedly 'changed her story' once she was informed of the CCTV, supposedly responding that the children had found a turtle at the spring but it was left there. 

'When informed that CCTV footage existed covering the relevant period, she then proceeded to change her story again,' they wrote on Facebook.

The woman was said to have offered to replace the turtle, but police attended soon after as the 'discussion became unproductive', with the General Manager leaving soon after. 

'We really hope that the turtle is returned before our annual Tuns fest which is this weekend as we were looking forward to show him off,' Three Tuns added.

Hertfordshire Constabulary have been contacted for comment but they have reportedly said: 'Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to report via 101 or online, quoting crime reference 41/57985/26.'