http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/animal_cruelty_charges_sought.html
Now they're charging them with cruelty. Poor torts.
Now they're charging them with cruelty. Poor torts.
Hines’ wife, however, said the whole situation is a big misunderstanding. She said Maximus doesn’t cry out because of sadness.
"It’s a mating call," she said. "I’ve been listening to it for years. It’s kind of a joke for us."
But it was not a joke to Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief humane law enforcement officer of the Monmouth County SPCA. He said the reptiles were malnourished, with silver dollar-sized holes in their shells coated over in Fiberglas.
"They were living in an improper shelter with no sun," Amato said of the tortoise pen on Grand Tour street. "These are desert tortoises. The owners had dug up these trenches for them when water is the worst thing in the world for them to be lying in. You’ve got a 600-pound animal that can only go five feet one way and five feet the other."
emysemys said:I'm with Boah on this one. The "officials" are terribly mis-informed. My two aldabran tortoises will sit all day and all night in a mud puddle. They won't move out of it until the water has all absorbed into the mud or evaporated. They LOVE sitting in mud.
And would they have rather seen the gaping holes in the shell with no attempt to patch them? Who's to say how the holes got there.
I wasn't real thrilled about the small area they described that the tortoises were kept in, however, knowing from experience that it takes a long time to get things set up properly after a move, I think they should have been given more time to set it right. If they are both working at outside jobs, that means they only have after work and week-ends to set the tortoises up properly.
I am sometimes embarrassed at the mating sounds coming from my large tortoises and wonder what the neighbors must think. If you didn't know better, it might sound like moans of sadness.
I'm sad that someone who has had these large tortoises for 15 years has had to watch them be confiscated because of busy-body neighbors.
If it were me I would be getting me an attorney post haste.