A shell of a party for tortoises
It was a slow walk to freedom but 36 tortoises have been returned to the wild after a life of confinement and abuse.
A few of the tortoises had been confiscated by the Animal Anti-Cruelty League in Cleary Park and the rest had been handed to Mark Marshall of Sandula Conservation and Humps and Bumps Tortoise Sanctuary by members of the public.
Marshall said yesterday he had ferried the lot — 20 leopard tortoises, 15 angulates and one parrot beak tortoise — to a private nature reserve on the western outskirts of Gqeberha to be released.
Ambling out of their crates, they were treated to a sumptuous feast courtesy of Rocket Seed, the fresh produce wholesaler.
Marshall said the tortoises had been rescued from various horrible circumstances.
“In some cases they were kept as pets, or to keep away cancer and evil spirits, or to make the owner sleep better.
“The worst scenario is where the owner drills a hole in the tortoise’s shell to tether it to a pole.
“The shell is a living part of the animal and drilling a hole through it is like drilling a hole through your leg.
“Sometimes they’re painted because the owner thinks that looks pretty but the paint seeps through the shell and poisons the tortoise.
“Often by the time we get to the animal, its shell is half worn away from where it’s been struggling to escape under a hard structure like a fence.”
Animal Anti-Cruelty League inspector Beverley Rademeyer said the biggest tortoise was 50 to 60 years old.
“He had spent his life in a yard but the owner had decided to tile it over and realised
the animal wouldn’t be able to survive so he brought it in to us.
“We’re very grateful he did that because after a lifetime of confinement, for them to forage completely by themselves is a challenge.”
She described another incident where she found an angulate tortoise tethered on a long rope.
“Sometimes it’s to do with education.
“People must please understand it is absolutely prohibited in terms of our environmental laws to confine a tortoise or any other wild animal without a special permit.”
Rademeyer said besides the cultural belief that having a tortoise in the house would keep evil spirits away, they were also kept to eat and as “ornaments”.
“These animals are already fighting to survive in the wild because development is taking up their habitat.
“We need to protect animals, from the big ones to the smallest insect.
“We can’t survive without one another.”