Jacqui's Captive Bred Tortoises

The picture to the right may look like potatoes beign tipped out but they are actually tortoises, dead ones!

All Herman’s and Horsfield tortoises entering the pet trade are either Wild Caught, taken from their own natural habitat and shipped in crates for days on end without food and water, to the UK  or farmed.

In farming the females are kept penned in paddocks with about 50 tortoises per paddock once they have laid, the nest sites are marked and the eggs collected for incubation. Once hatched and grown on a little and then piled into crates. This particular farm is in Slovenia, where many tortoises in pet shops have come from.

There are approxiamtely 50 tortoises kept in each paddock,  which is  very sparce and uninteresting  as you can see, there are no foraging plants etc like they would have in the wild normally. They remain there all year round and hibernate there too. The females are basically "breeding machines" and mated all of the time.

The eggs are collected. The statistics for example are 40 eggs per tray, 120 eggs per shelf in the incubator, 45 shelves per incubator totalling approximately 5400 eggs per time! How can any of these babies be closely monitored and helped if they get into trouble?

The babies are put into crates. crates are stacked on top of each other and the babies have no food and water. They are then shipped to the UK. Those that survive, are likely carriers of parasitic infections such as heavy worm infestation and because of the unsanitary conditions of sitting in their own excrement in close proximity to other infected tortoises, many are carrying chelonian herpes virus. Many die before they reach the shore.

An estimated 10 million tortoises were shipped into the UK for the pet trade between 1890 and 1984 before the initial importation ban was introduced. The picture now is that tortoises are being imported again in substantial numbers.  However, DEFRA are failing to prevent this illegal trade and are in fact licensing it. These tortoises go through untold misery and often arrive here with chronic worm infestations and dehydrated, which contributes to their early demise.

Many  of the health problems being reported particularly in imported Hermann's tortoises (Testudo hermanni) suggest the presence of chelonian herpes-virus. There is also a suggestion that many of the online suppliers have been fully aware of this problem for several months, but have continued to sell animals regardless of the potential for spreading this highly lethal disease to existing tortoise collections.
Because of the way in which this virus spreads, it is very, very probable that some of these dealers have an endemic problem.

The guidance is that any tortoise from such sources needs to be treated as a potential carrier. The owner needs to have suspect animals screened urgently and maintain the strictest possible quarantine and hygiene measures when handling them. The virus can be "dormant" for up to 10 years before producing symptoms. The disease is davastaing and involves an often long and drawn out suffering and death for the tortoise. It often starts with what looks like a respitratory infection, symptoms include pale greyish mucous membranes, shortness of breath (mouth breathing) and a whitening of the eyes  but it goes on to lead to comeplete organ failure and inevitable death. Some Herman’s tortoises have been noted to die 12 hours of displaying these signs. There is no cure for this disease only the possibility of treating symptoms as they appear and providing the best quality of life as possible. The disease is exasperated by stress which is often what happens when poor unsuspecting “customers” buy from a pet store. The tortoise suffers and dies and when the new owner approaches the pet store they are told that the tortoise was fine when it left there so they are not responsible for its death.

Another problem noted with pet stores is the mixing of species and sub species. Each species of tortoise carries pathogens and germs specific to that species which they are able to live with. However, when they come into contact with other species they then contract diseases for which they do not have the antibodies and become ill. These illnesses again can be fatal which is why owners should never mix tortoises of different species.

This is what the pet shops and garden centres dont tell you about when they sell you a tortoises. This is what tortoise farming results in.

To see footage of this terrible industry please click on the link below. Warning Graphic images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=796eTGg-8UE