White flesh

[zolasmum]

That's really exciting news ! I had been wondering if you were going to be able to go there, as you are obviously very busy with all your plans. It would be wonderful if you could find the lady who found her - she would be so delighted to see JoJo now - she probably rescued the poor little thing just in time ! I think Yvonne said she wouldn't have lasted much longer, didn't she ?
You have every right to be proud, it seems to me- that pathetic little scrap is now a happy, lively, pain-free little thing who feels strong and comfortable enough to play !!! Just thinking about that makes me feel really happy, as I'm sure it does you.
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

Her story is so hard to digest, living a life you are miserable and suffering with no end in sight day after day after day. I'll walk through the town with my "Bull Horn" and say "Looking for the lady that saved a tortoise last october ......(pause) .... I need to speak with the lady that saved the tortoise" I'm hoping during the pause we'll hear something. The town is small so I'll also look for an abandoned house as well while I walk up and down the street. I do know this...The whole thing will be recorded for hopefully a video about her story. When I look back at page 1 and 2 of this thread it still makes me tear up. I can only imagine if I figure out how to splice several videos together it will be a tearjerker too. Jo Jo has changed our lives, When we first received the call my immediate response was "NO" we can not help her, her shell is broken. Now with You (Angie) and yvonne's help and confidence I'll never say NO.
There are things that happen in your life that change the direction and way you live your life forever, Jo Jo is just that. I can not imagine a day where I don't check on her eye or be the first person she sees when she wakes up. I DON'T miss our old lives ever and am so excited about our futures, that's LOVE.

 

[EppsDynasty]

TODAY is the day .......We are going to Johannesburg today to film the house Jo Jo came from. We were able to track down a local that knows the house Jo Jo was found at and are going to meet her today. After all she has been through and where she is know I'm not exactly sure how it's going to make me feel. I'm excited but understand this is going to be emotional ... To see where her life was almost taken and to see the terrible conditions she was in for no telling how long.....I'm thinking it might be a little harder than I think. WOW, it's happening I've been thinking of this day for months and now it's here.

 

[Yvonne G]

Safe trip!

 

[EppsDynasty]

WE DID IT………O YEAH
What a journey it was one for the books, the history books that is. So our insider local contact was as close as you could get and be the wrong house, it was the one next door. My wife and I are firm believers in "Everything happens for a reason" After she showed us the house we started trying to find someone to talk with. First we started with direct neighbors then worked our way out from there asking anyone we could see. No one seemed to know anything of what we had been told the story was. We were not to be deterred 1 word kept coming to my mind "Diligence" We kept ending up in this one area of town, where our contact thought it was so I started feeling like we were getting hot. It took a few more people before we finally had a name and a timeline that agreed with what we were told. A family that had birds, lots of birds and a pen as well as a house that had been vacant during our timeline. I have to learn how to put pictures with videos to edit and make 1 video out of that and I will post it here. But here it is the Duck Pen

 

[TammyJ]

Wow.

 

[zolasmum]

WE DID IT………O YEAH
What a journey it was one for the books, the history books that is. So our insider local contact was as close as you could get and be the wrong house, it was the one next door. My wife and I are firm believers in "Everything happens for a reason" After she showed us the house we started trying to find someone to talk with. First we started with direct neighbors then worked our way out from there asking anyone we could see. No one seemed to know anything of what we had been told the story was. We were not to be deterred 1 word kept coming to my mind "Diligence" We kept ending up in this one area of town, where our contact thought it was so I started feeling like we were getting hot. It took a few more people before we finally had a name and a timeline that agreed with what we were told. A family that had birds, lots of birds and a pen as well as a house that had been vacant during our timeline. I have to learn how to put pictures with videos to edit and make 1 video out of that and I will post it here. But here it is the Duck PenView attachment 370363

Oh poor poor little JoJo - what a horrible place - how did she survive !
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

So I have stated many times I am a terrible communicator ...yesterday was no different. I was so outta sorts, excited, floored and sad I just started telling the story with not the best of details so I'll try to do a little better today.

When our local contact showed us the house she thought it was there was no one around to speak with. We started with the houses close by trying to get anyone to speak with us and tell them the story to see if we could find any more out and find "The House." As we started stopping people and parking in front of houses trying to get people to see what we wanted we would tell the story of Jo Jo. We passed by a house and I noticed a "Pen" in the back and I just knew ... "That's where Jo Jo suffered." No one could really say "O I know who that is" or "I know what house that is." Each person would tell us an area of town that might be a possible place that this story could have happened. For some reason we kept getting led to this one street in a town with only 5 streets. As I said above we are firm believers in "Everything happens for a reason" and took this as a sign. We just knew we were close and there was no way we were leaving without finding what we came for. One of the residents told us of a family that had kept all kinds of animals and especially birds....this was the 1 piece of info I knew was crucial to helping us. If you read the first few post about Jo Jo I was amazed at the amount of Feathers in her gut, "O they have birds" I knew it was them that had Jo Jo. The resident told us how to get to this house and we went ...it was the house with the Duck Pen I saw. We stopped a green truck and told him our story (we were told to look for a green truck) and he told us "Yes, you can take some pictures." When we walked up to the pen I felt as if I had just dove into the shallow end of a pool. My head started to hurt, confusion started to set in and thoughts were flying through my head so fast I couldn't even understand them. Then I realized ... "This was the family that HAD Jo Jo, and they kept her in this Duck Pen on purpose." A flood of emotions started to come over me, remembering how dirty she was, how bad she must of felt being here in THIS pen....on purpose. The gentleman started to tell us the story of how they found here and then what they did with her, again just floored me. How...Why ...it just didn't make any sense ...so much suffering ...how is that helping ... what in the HELL were you thinking.
Side Note: Humans lack of being able to understand and relate to an animal in pure misery will never make any sense to me.
We are very grateful that he and his wife were open and shared with us her story and how it really happened, we do thank them for that. But to hear the real story of Jo Jo's suffering was terrible and a real heart ache for me. The gentleman told us that she was in there with ducks "For the Longest Time," How long is all I can remember thinking.
We are so glad to find out what actually happened to our poor Jo Jo but it was like taking a chainsaw to a paper cut. It reopened a terrible wound and poured salt into it, then a batch of acid on to that. The amount of suffering is just unimaginable to me, to allow an animal to go through. As we are glad to have found out it makes her terrible story even worse and I didn't think that was possible.
She will Forever be a very special Tort.

 

[zolasmum]

It is almost unbearable to read - how much worse it must have been for you to hear and see it ! I am so sorry, and so grateful to your family - I can't help but cry about it.
Angie

 

[zolasmum]

Hello again - I've just noticed that it's your birthday - Very Happy Birthday Wishes from Zola and myself - it must be a very unusual sort of a birthday for you , but a sort of triumph to have managed to find out about JoJo - and to acquire two more little chaps in desperate need of care.
Zola would like you to see a photo of him among the bluelbells, as a birthday card ! Angie

 

[zolasmum]

By the way, that was a bit of grass he was eating - not a bluebell leaf !
Angie

 

[SinLA]

Happy birthday! Your post above says “diligence” I keep reading it as “deliverance” which feels apt in this story

 

[zolasmum]

So I have stated many times I am a terrible communicator ...yesterday was no different. I was so outta sorts, excited, floored and sad I just started telling the story with not the best of details so I'll try to do a little better today.

When our local contact showed us the house she thought it was there was no one around to speak with. We started with the houses close by trying to get anyone to speak with us and tell them the story to see if we could find any more out and find "The House." As we started stopping people and parking in front of houses trying to get people to see what we wanted we would tell the story of Jo Jo. We passed by a house and I noticed a "Pen" in the back and I just knew ... "That's where Jo Jo suffered." No one could really say "O I know who that is" or "I know what house that is." Each person would tell us an area of town that might be a possible place that this story could have happened. For some reason we kept getting led to this one street in a town with only 5 streets. As I said above we are firm believers in "Everything happens for a reason" and took this as a sign. We just knew we were close and there was no way we were leaving without finding what we came for. One of the residents told us of a family that had kept all kinds of animals and especially birds....this was the 1 piece of info I knew was crucial to helping us. If you read the first few post about Jo Jo I was amazed at the amount of Feathers in her gut, "O they have birds" I knew it was them that had Jo Jo. The resident told us how to get to this house and we went ...it was the house with the Duck Pen I saw. We stopped a green truck and told him our story (we were told to look for a green truck) and he told us "Yes, you can take some pictures." When we walked up to the pen I felt as if I had just dove into the shallow end of a pool. My head started to hurt, confusion started to set in and thoughts were flying through my head so fast I couldn't even understand them. Then I realized ... "This was the family that HAD Jo Jo, and they kept her in this Duck Pen on purpose." A flood of emotions started to come over me, remembering how dirty she was, how bad she must of felt being here in THIS pen....on purpose. The gentleman started to tell us the story of how they found here and then what they did with her, again just floored me. How...Why ...it just didn't make any sense ...so much suffering ...how is that helping ... what in the HELL were you thinking.
Side Note: Humans lack of being able to understand and relate to an animal in pure misery will never make any sense to me.
We are very grateful that he and his wife were open and shared with us her story and how it really happened, we do thank them for that. But to hear the real story of Jo Jo's suffering was terrible and a real heart ache for me. The gentleman told us that she was in there with ducks "For the Longest Time," How long is all I can remember thinking.
We are so glad to find out what actually happened to our poor Jo Jo but it was like taking a chainsaw to a paper cut. It reopened a terrible wound and poured salt into it, then a batch of acid on to that. The amount of suffering is just unimaginable to me, to allow an animal to go through. As we are glad to have found out it makes her terrible story even worse and I didn't think that was possible.
She will Forever be a very special Tort.

Did you actually find anyone who was actually aware of JoJo's presence in the duck pen and of her injuries - and did you show her to them now- if so, I hope they got some idea of her terrible suffering, and hope they would actually feel some kind of shame and guilt. I still am amazed at her courage and will to live, when life must have been practically unbearable for her.
Angie