 Reptiles can make children and adults very ill.
In September, school bells start ringing all over the United States. And so do our phones. Teachers are calling American Tortoise Rescue asking if they can have turtles or tortoises for their classrooms, most commonly red eared sliders, a water turtle, or a Russian tortoise, a land tortoise (pictured abive). Our answer is always the same. Absolutely not. Why? Because having one in your classroom or the schoolyard can be fatal to both your child or the turtle or tortoise for several reasons. 1. Reptiles of all kinds can carry a disease called Salmonella. Salmonella is a bacterial infection that generally infects the intestinal tract and occasionally the blood stream. Symptoms include mild to severe diarrhea, fever and occasionally vomiting. While healthy adults may show no symptoms of Salmonella even if they are infected, children under five, pregnant women and the elderly are at risk of serious illness or even death from Salmonella infection. This is immediate red flag to nursery school and grade school teachers considering turtles or other reptiles for their classrooms. An exotic pet veterinarian told us that a teacher is a sitting duck for a lawsuit should any of the children in the classroom get infected. “Teachers know the risks, so if a parent were to sue for a million dollars (much more if the child dies), the parent will win.” It is not worth the risk. 2. Turtles and tortoises are quiet wild animals that prefer not to be in the company of humans, especially lively young children who shriek, over-handle and chase animals. Even when children are closely supervised, accidents can and do happen. Turtles get dropped, stressed out or die. 3. A turtle or tortoise or any wild animal confined to a tank is living a miserable existence – it’s a death chamber. It’s like you or me living in a bathtub for the rest of our lives. Tanks are for fish. These creatures are used to living outside where they can get the sun and food they are used to. Most people have little factual knowledge about turtles and tortoises even with the Internet – in fact the Internet has so much incorrect information it is often confusing to someone who is trying to do a good job caring for these animals. What is very disturbing to us is that many schools already have turtles and tortoises as classroom "pets." Turtle are wild animals, not pets. Even after we educate principals and teachers about the risks to the children and the animals, turtles remain in close contact with the children. When there have been cruelty complaints filed with us about the poor housing and living conditions of turtles and tortoises in schools, educators still have refused to relinquish the poor animals…cases in point - several well-known preschools schools and one children’s workshop in Southern California. So please, parents, persuade your teachers to relinquish the turtles and tortoises to a responsible turtle rescue. Don't let them expose your children to a serious illness. It can be a matter of life and death. About Us American Tortoise Rescue is a nonprofit founded in 1990 for the protection of all species of turtles and tortoises. We have rescued more than 4,000 since our inception. Foundlings that cannot be adopted because of ill health remain in the care of ATR for the remainder of their lives. ATR acts as a clearinghouse for information about turtle care. We work to abolish “live market” slaughter of turtles in the US, the sale of reptiles on sites like Craig’s List and the cruel importation and exploitation of a variety of species. Celebrate World Turtle Day every year on May 23rd! Contacts
Quick facts Turtles are miserable in tanksTweet this Turtles carry salmonella which can make people sick or even kill themTweet this Turtles prefer calm to chaosTweet this
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 They No Longer Serve The Original Purpose When There Was No Refrigeration
American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), along with several other animal welfare groups, has been trying to close down the “wet” live food markets for the same reasons that the SARS epidemic closed the live markets in China. There, as in the U.S., animals are kept in horrendous and unsanitary conditions before they are eaten…no shade, upside down, crowded beak to beak and claw to claw, with no food or water. Some of these animals are threatened or endangered species. We cringe at the obvious mistreatment of these creatures. Blood and feces tests and necropsies on these animals, including rabbits, turtles, frogs and fish reveal salmonella, TB, leprosy and a range of other zoonotic diseases easily transmitted to humans. ATR repeatedly brought evidence since 1997 to a variety of local, state and federal agencies to no avail. California Fish & Wildlife, USDA, Los Angeles County and California Health Depts. among others have deliberately stayed away from this political hot potato because closing them would mean angering Chinese voters. The USDA official I spoke to said, “Lady. We don’t inspect fish. Why would we inspect turtles?” The argument used by the vendors and buyers is that live markets are a Chinese tradition (o.k. before refrigeration in China and elsewhere, live food markets made sense, but that excuse no longer holds water). "Culture" and "tradition" justify nothing. To quote a good friend of mine, Action for Animal’s Eric Mills, "There's a lot of crime done against animals in the name of diversity." Should we defend human slavery or female genital mutilation on the same grounds of tradition and culture? They've been around for a long time, too. Our reason for closing the live markets is two-fold – to prevent Chinese and other shoppers from getting sick with serious and sometimes fatal symptoms resembling the flu, and to prevent the inhumane treatment of helpless animals. Overlooking these logical reasons for our concern, we have been labeled racists throughout California and elsewhere. It is not surprising that when there is no legitimate defense, pulling the race card is always easy. We call on government officials to close live markets here in the states. Please help us in our efforts – contact your congressman or senators via email and ask that live markets in your city and others be closed immediately based on the outright cruelty to animals. Further, we ask that you inform your veterinary associations, as members in good standing, to consider this a critical issue that must be addressed now. Thank you. About Us American Tortoise Rescue is a nonprofit founded in 1990 for the protection of all species of turtles and tortoises. We have rescued more than 4,000 since our inception. Foundlings that cannot be adopted because of ill health remain in the care of ATR for the remainder of their lives. ATR acts as a clearinghouse for information about turtle care. We work to abolish “live market” slaughter of turtles in the US, the sale of reptiles on sites like Craig’s List and the cruel importation and exploitation of a variety of species. Celebrate World Turtle Day every year on May 23rd! Contact american tortoise rescue 30745 PCH, #243 Malibu, CA 90265 http://www.tortoise.com info@tortoise.com www.worldturtleday.org Facebook: American Tortoise Rescue and World Turtle Day Twitter @tortoiserescue YouTube AmericanTortRescue Instagram: TortoiseRescue Documents & Links Quick facts
 American Tortoise Rescue Calls for a Moratorium on Sales
Turtle and tortoise wildlife groups and rescue organizations throughout North America, led by Malibu based American Tortoise Rescue (http://www.tortoise.com), are calling on the pet industry, reptile wholesalers and private breeders to stop the sale of giant tortoises commonly called sulcatas. Geochelone sulcata is a hardy and personable species of tortoise. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, it became part of the lucrative pet trade during the 1990s. It has an engaging nature, is attractive and sells for anywhere between $50 and $1,000. These traits make it one of the most commonly purchased pet tortoises in North America. Unknown to the unwary buyer, however, is thatsulcatas are the third largest species of tortoise in the world weighing up to 70 - 200 pounds, attaining this size in a very short period of time. Adult female sulcatas can easily produce 50 –100 eggs a year. It is not unusual to see hundreds of hatchlings for sale at reptile shows even though selling any turtle or tortoise in the U.S. under four inches is illegal. According to Susan Tellem, co-founder of American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), the sale of sulcatas today is similar to the pet trade's large-scale sale of iguanas during the early to mid-90s. Many people bought cute baby iguanas not realizing that they would grow to as long as six feet and become aggressive. Just like iguanas, Sulcata breeders and pet stores that sell them create problems that other people, especially reptile rescuers, have to solve. "The pet industry constantly looks for small, adorable exotic animals with a big price tag," Tellem says. "We've conducted a survey of sulcata owners about what they were told when they purchased their tortoises. Whether at a pet store or reptile show - the answer is the same. 'It won't get bigger than its tank.' This is patently ridiculous and often a deliberate lie.” Tellem says, "New owners quickly become aware of the difficulties associated with having a potentially destructive non-housebroken animal of this size. A fully-grown sulcata is strong and aggressive and can easily move furniture and damage or destroy a typical house or apartment wall. When they start to dig up the property, it looks something like a mine field." She added that because sulcatas do not hibernate, they need expensive housing through the winter using commercial pig blankets (lights are not effective), and because their feces are so large similar to a German Sheppard’s, keeping them in the house is not an option for most people. Tellem, who founded the nonprofit ATR 20 years ago with her husband, Marshall Thompson, says, "Many owners assume that when the tortoise becomes a problem, zoos will take them. This is simply not true. Zoos are not interested in cast-off pets." Tellem says that the zoos, instead, refer people to her rescue, as well as others. She has placed hundreds into good homes but it is not the answer because it is not easy finding places with a half-acre or more, which is what a sulcata needs. Based on the record number of hatchlings and juveniles sold in pet stores as compared to hundreds in the 90s, this bred a catastrophe of unwanted pets. Tellem says that the option of placing the animal with a rescue organization or rehabber sounds good to most overwhelmed owners. Unfortunately, of those thousands of cute tortoises that are sold every year, rescue organizations can only take a few of them once they are huge. "Since the Sulcata can live 50 years or more, and because the males fight when placed together, overcrowded rescues run out of space. At that point, there is no solution," says Tellem. Tellem adds that some owners mistakenly think that they can sell the huge animal for a large profit. "There is no market for adult sulcatas," Tellem says. "The only options remaining are to dump the animal in the wild where they will definitely end up dead, or to give it up for adoption to a rescue group." She added that her rescue is full as are most others and so the only option is finding a compassionate adopter who is willing to put up with the destruction. Aside from the potential for a slow death by freezing or starving that “dumped” sulcatas face, there are other problems. These include infecting native wildlife with parasites and foreign diseases. This could result in the eradication of already threatened nativespecies. There is also the issue of introduction of yet another non-native species into a precariously balanced ecosystem. Tellem and Thompson say that breeders won't turn their backs on an obvious money making machine. "So what we request is simply market driven economics. People shouldn’t buy sulcatas. Pet stores should stop selling them. Reptile shows must have a 'no sulcata' policy. Only then will breeders have no choice but to stop breeding them," the pair agrees. There are many national rescue organizations listed on the ATR website www.tortoise.com all of which can facilitate sulcata adoptions if people are interested in getting one. American Tortoise Rescue, Malibu, Calif., is a nonprofit founded in 1990 to provide for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle. For more information, contact: American Tortoise Rescue at www.tortoise.com ; or email info@tortoise.com. Follow us on Twitter @tortoiserescue and on Facebook. About Us American Tortoise Rescue is a nonprofit founded in 1990 for the protection of all species of turtles and tortoises. We have rescued more than 3,000 since our inception. Foundlings that cannot be adopted because of ill health remain in the care of ATR for the remainder of their lives. ATR acts as a clearinghouse for information about turtle care. We work to abolish “live market” slaughter of turtles in the US, the cruel importation and exploitation of a variety of species and protecting the desert tortoise. Quick facts
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