Do you know where your pet is coming from?

by Lesley
(Devon)

If you are thinking about buying a pet tortoise, please be careful about where it is coming from.

Some people in England thought that they would try to make some money out of tortoises, so they tried to smuggle seven in from Greece.

The tortoises live in the wild in Greece but it's against the law to bring them into England, especially when they are hidden in your hand luggage. It's stupid to smuggle wild animals, unless you can care for them properly while they're traveling then they will almost certainly die.

Can you imagine how horrible it would be for the tortoises? Shut up in a backpack, trapped inside a pair of socks? You can read the full story on the BBC website here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/essex/8156846.stm

Please, please, please only buy your pet from a licensed dealer who has taken proper care of their animals. This allows wild tortoises to live free where they should be living and pet tortoises to be confident that they will be looked after by people who care about them.