Texas Tortoise Release!

[Chad Matthews]

Hello everyone! I am 19 years old and Studying Environmental Science at The University of Texas at San Antonio. This summer I have the privilege of interning at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, here in San Antonio. There, we rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned native animals. Mostly working with birds and mammals, I was quite suprised when this Texas Tortoise came into the rescue yesterday. After a person found this tort on the side of a busy street, she decided to bring it into the rescue in hopes of us being able to release it into a safer environment. When I first saw the tortoise, my eyes lite up and I couldn't stop talking about it to everyone else. They were quite surprised by my love and excitement for tortoises, and asked if I would like to release it back into the wild. This was an obvious YES from me. I took the tort to a more remote area, where hopefully it will live out its life happily and away from human endangerment. I was super excited to have the honor to help this native tortise live a better life, and I hope y'all enjoyed my first post! Here are some pictures of this beautiful tortoise!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Thanks for sharing and WELCOME to the Forum. Next time, give the tort a nice soak in some warm water to rehydrate.... you don’t know where it came from....or how long until it settles in!

Keep on posting, Happy Torting

 

[ascott]

Hello everyone! I am 19 years old and Studying Environmental Science at The University of Texas at San Antonio. This summer I have the privilege of interning at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, here in San Antonio. There, we rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned native animals. Mostly working with birds and mammals, I was quite suprised when this Texas Tortoise came into the rescue yesterday. After a person found this tort on the side of a busy street, she decided to bring it into the rescue in hopes of us being able to release it into a safer environment. When I first saw the tortoise, my eyes lite up and I couldn't stop talking about it to everyone else. They were quite surprised by my love and excitement for tortoises, and asked if I would like to release it back into the wild. This was an obvious YES from me. I took the tort to a more remote area, where hopefully it will live out its life happily and away from human endangerment. I was super excited to have the honor to help this native tortise live a better life, and I hope y'all enjoyed my first post! Here are some pictures of this beautiful tortoise!View attachment 243471 View attachment 243470 View attachment 243469 View attachment 243472 View attachment 243473 View attachment 243474

To release back into the wild is the MOST MOST MOST stressful choice...right place, right provisions...not in a predator heavy space....is the tort hydrated enough...eaten enough....strong enough...where did it come from to begin with...gosh, hope I have picked the best spot....super stressful....I have been able to release CDTs into the desert here and it was the most stressful...kept me awake for nights hoping I chose right.....super stressful and exciting at the same time..beautiful tort by the way

 

[Chad Matthews]

Thanks for sharing and WELCOME to the Forum. Next time, give the tort a nice soak in some warm water to rehydrate.... you don’t know where it came from....or how long until it settles in!

Keep on posting, Happy Torting

I gave the tort an hour and a half to drink as much as it could! I understand you concern, and honestly my mind was racing about all the things I could do for the little tort before I released it! It had drank some, from what I observed, once I placed the water bowl in its temporary enclosure.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement, I will keep posting about torts that comes into the rescue for everyone to check out!!

 

[Chad Matthews]

To release back into the wild is the MOST MOST MOST stressful choice...right place, right provisions...not in a predator heavy space....is the tort hydrated enough...eaten enough....strong enough...where did it come from to begin with...gosh, hope I have picked the best spot....super stressful....I have been able to release CDTs into the desert here and it was the most stressful...kept me awake for nights hoping I chose right.....super stressful and exciting at the same time..beautiful tort by the way

Yes, I completely agree! It took me forever to find the right place for this little tort, and I still think about it every hour since I released it! I personally looked for a good 45 minutes for the right place to release it, deep into the park and away from humans. I hope that it reproduces and lives a very happy life! I will keep posting about future Texas Tortoises we get into the rescue! These torts are hard to come by in inner San Antonio, and seeing this beauty made my day/summer internship! I hope to keep posting here on the forum, and work with many tortoises in my life! Thanks for the response!