American Tortoise Rescue
June 2014
Hole will be sadly missed because of his wonderful gentle nature and refusal to let the pet trade make him a statistic.
Just after World Turtle Day this May 23, 2014, we discovered our beloved
Gulf Coast box turtle "Hole" had succumbed to old age. He died peacefully in
his house alongside a friend of his, a small box turtle with no name. We
buried them together as they crossed the rainbow bridge arm in arm, tail in
tail.
Hole was named after a prominent hole someone cruelly drilled in the
front of his shell to tether him years ago. He arrived at American Tortoise
Rescue 20 plus years ago after being caught in the wild near his gulf coast
home and shipped to a pet store in Los Angeles. I received a call from the
pet store manager asking me if I would come in and look at one of the
turtles who had been pretty much unresponsive all week - not eating or
moving. When I arrived, there was Hole, once a big brave box turtle, now
lying on the counter with a runny nose and his eyes swollen shut. I told the
manager I could take him home and try to nurse him back to health with
antibiotics, so he eagerly agreed. But then he told me I'd have to pay half
price for Hole. What the...???? Normally I would have said no because we do
not buy turtles. However, Hole's fate clearly was dying in a box or being
tossed in a dumpster still alive. I paid the $15 and took him home.
From the beginning, it was touch and go, but he made it and became one of
the rescue's favorites. He lived outside year round always showing up for
worms and loving his soaks in a plant saucer. His eyes were
bright red with some white around the edges telling us that he was old. (Red
eyes turn whiter as they age.) He was always a bright spot in our daily
routine and was never a problem. During the more than 20 years we had Hole,
his eyes turned completely white from red. We guessed his age at around 50
years or more.
Sadly many of these wild caught turtles and tortoises die from stress or
shortly afterwards en route to pet stores or breeders or even well meaning
people who don't know buying turtles and tortoises is a bad thing. This is
why we adamantly oppose purchasing turtles at pet stores and have lobbied to
have Petco and Petsmart stop selling them (they did for awhile but started
up again when they wanted to make more money - exotics are an impulse buy
and many die after they are purchased.)
Hole will be sadly missed because of his wonderful gentle nature and refusal to let the pet trade make him a statistic.
Thank you for being in our lives for so long.
Love,
Susan and Marshall
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