Bob, the tortise, is back home from rehab and doing GREAT!!!, ,

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:19am

There was an article in the paper yesterday about this, and it made me sick.

Some people stole a pet tortoise from a couples backyard, tried to pull its shell off, stabbed it's leg(s) apparently trying to cut them off and trying to cut the shell off, and repeatedly threw it against a wall trying to crack the shell.
And when nothing seemed to work, they abandonded it in a field.

And while I know people are murdered every day, and so many are dying in Iraq, still this story truly made me angry.

Why do people do this sort of thing to defenseless animals? What is to be gained?

The article says turtles/tortoises physically feel what we do in this sort of thing.

The owners said that before this he was a very outgoing and friendly tortoise (although I'm not sure how that can be judged), but not he won't even stick his head out of his shell when people are around.

They do think he'll recover.

Sometimes I just don't understand people. And the older I get, the angrier I get when something like this happens.

In the longrun of world issues I guess this is minor, but it truly, truly affected me.

Is this what as a society we have become? With all the inventions, scientific discoveries, and disparity between the classes, is this all there is.

Hug your pet extra special today.......it could have been my pet, or yours.

Updated On: 8/18/07 at 10:19 AM

[MotorTink]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:25am

This really sickens me! When I worked at a vet & shelter when in HS, it would appall me the things people did to animals. It is so disgusting and disturbing.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:27am

It really is a shame. Animals are beings too! If I had a pet, I would hug it extra today.

[blueroses]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:27am

I completely agree with you. There's got to be a special place in hell for bastards like this, Elphaba--for anyone who goes after animals or the weak with such viciousness.

I need to go hug my Lab.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:30am

That is terrible. What a shame. I'm glad they got their turtle back though.

Sick, sick, pathetic people.

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:35am

That's disgusting and horrible.Thank God the little guy survived!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 10:43am

and this tortoise weighs 42lbs.....and worse, they have an autistic son who rarely talks to people, but mutters with the tortoise, who is apparently his pet



Bob doing better

Updated On: 7/15/07 at 10:43 AM

[singingwendy]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:38am

This is a horrible story. I hope they find who did this, and get those people some help, because it's been documented that violence towards animals is a stepping stone toward violence to people.

But on a lighter note, this caught my attention in the news article:

"Turtle Dreams, a Montecito rehabilitation center where Bob was receiving care."

Are there really that many injured or debiliated turtles out there that they need their own rehab??? And what's with the word "rehab"? Here on the East Coast that would be the "vet".

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:43am

two different things, a vet treats many animals, a rehab center is just that...rehabilitation...and yes there is a turtle rehab facility.
I would assume there are vets who donate their time to that rehab center.
The rehab center is most likely non-profit....a vets office is not.

and since it's in Montecito, you can bet it is well funded. It is one of the most expensive places to live....just south of Santa Barbara, many celebrities have estates there......for example Oprah has an estate there

Updated On: 8/18/07 at 11:43 AM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:48am

My friend had one of the most precious Yorkie's I have ever seen. One of the twisted kids from her neighborhood stole him from her back yard. He duct taped his nose and mouth closed until he was almost dead, then he ripped it off and buried the little dog alive. People are sick.

[RockabyeHamlet]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 1:33pm

I used to work at a vet's office, and at times the cruelty is almost too much to bare. One of the cases, involving a cat that had been poisoned as a Mischief night prank, made me physically ill for like two days.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 2:05pm

that's horrible. I don't understand cruelty to animals. I've never seen a real tortoise but I've always said that my dad had all the characteristics of one.

These kinds of stories really make me sad.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 2:08pm

This is sick.

A nature center near my house had a rabbit that was recently stolen. Apparently someone killed it.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 2:13pm

That's just sick. Who is that pathetic that they must attack a defenseless animal?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 2:31pm

When I read that they couldn't break open the shell, my first thought was "Good, nature out-smarted the bastards." Unfortunately, the shell is meant to protect it from natural predators in the wild, not for domesticated pets to have to use for defense against humans.

There's a nearly 100% correlation between those that abused animal before age 18 and convicted felons. They should just track the bastards down and give them life in jail now, because it's only a matter of time before they move on to humans.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 2:45pm

exactly. People are not stopped after torturing animals move on to people. Horrible

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:53pm

OMG, that's just nauseating and mortifying.

[shira467]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 5:55pm

I just cried.

I need to go find my puppy, who is sleeping in my backyard.

[misschung]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 11:41pm

Did those a**holes get charged with anything? Or did they get off because it was "just a turtle" ? These people should have done to them what they put that poor animal through

[C is for Company]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 2:31am

I was expecting to see a "funny thing happened to me today when-" kind of story here, but not another twisted animal brutality case. The worst kind of stories to read in my opinion. I remember reading about a group of people living nearby me and taking live rabbits and keeping them for their wild dogs to maul to death, many of them. They committed other atrocities to them as well, sickening ones.

The thread I won't forget from here was the one about the girl who had her pet dog stolen, only for it to be returned in too gruesome a state to mention here again. It disturbed me for the remainder of the day that someone could be capable of doing such a thing.

Where is Dexter when you need him?

Updated On: 7/16/07 at 02:31 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 6:46am

Not explaining their actions away, but these are generally people so powerless in their own lives that they have to take it out on something weaker than themselves.

Remember the story a couple of years ago about the guy who was so mad at his girlfriend breaking up with him that he threw her cat off a fifth floor balcony -- and when that didnt kill it, he grabbed it by the tail and swung it head first into a pole -- and *when* that didnt kill it, he repeatedly kicked it until it mercifully died.

Yeah, that's the kind of guy I'd want to marry. The truly pathetic thing is that, yes, he went to jail for murder, but it was a three-year sentence that was then reduced "for good behavior". Ya gotta love our sense of "justice" sometimes.

[peach]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 10:20am

These stories are mortifying. I don't understand what would make someone hurt a defenseless animal this way. There was a story recently on my local news in which a man lit someone's pet cat on fire, and threw it out the window into the street. What is wrong with people? Truly sick. They caught the jerk, and I think he's in jail now. Ugh. Animal cruelty stories really upset me.

I'm going to give my cats extra hugs and scratchies today.
Updated On: 7/16/07 at 10:20 AM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 10:53am

as far as I know, they have not been caught yet.....but they will. One of them will boast to a friend.

I hope they throw them against a wall and pull their fingernails off!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/18/07 at 5:41pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070818/ap_on_sc/tortured_tortoise


and, they caught the jerk who did it!!!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/18/07 at 10:33pm

I hope they make soup out of the kid.