SOUTHERN CAPE NEWS - The issue regarding people picking up tortoises and taking them home is a big problem because of the "ag-shame" factor.
People always want to "take care" of them but by taking them home they are doing more harm than good. The main reason why people stop and pick up tortoises on the road is because they incorrectly think the tortoise is lonely or lost and they should save it.
- The animal is not lost or lonely. There just happens to be a road in its way when it is trying to get to a neighbouring piece of veld. The kindest favour you can do a tortoise crossing the road, is to pick it up and put it in the veld on the side of the road it was moving towards.
- When you pick a tortoise up it often urinates in fear, losing precious moisture that was saved during the dry season, which may have to carry it over to the next rainy season. So even if you put it back in the veld, its health may have been compromised.
- Wild tortoises in captivity suffer from stress, which causes natural, normally dormant, disease agents such as viruses, bacteria, internal and/or external parasites like ticks, to come to the fore. This inevitably leads to disease.
- Even if the animal survives all of the above, you run the risk of genetically contaminating resident populations.
It's important to remember that, as with any wild South African bird, reptile or mammal, you may not capture, transport or keep tortoises in captivity without relevant permits.
You also may not release a tortoise back into the wild without permission from Nature Conservation, as the animal risks being released into the wrong environment.
ARTICLE: WENDY JONES, SPCA
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