Three legged tortoise given new lease of life with new wheels at Chester Zoo
A three-legged tortoise rescued from smugglers has been given a new lease of life on wheels after experts fitted him with support rollers.
The ploughshare tortoise - one of the rarest animals in the world - nicknamed Hope, was discovered in a suitcase with 56 others by customs officials in Hong Kong in 2019.
The owner of the suitcase, a would-be wildlife trader travelling from the Comoro Islands, off the coast of East Africa, was later jailed for two years.
Ploughshare tortoises, native to Madagascar, are one of the world's rarest animals, with fewer than 300 in the wild.
It is now hoped the tortoise will live up to his name at Chester Zoo and join a European conservation-breeding programme to help save the species from extinction.
The male tortoise was initially taken to Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden Wild Animal Rescue Centre in Hong Kong where it was found to be missing its front left leg, as well as claws on its hind left leg.
To help Hope get about, he was fitted with three support rollers under his lower shell to help him balance.
Further modifications have been made to the wheels by vets at the zoo since he arrived in the UK.
Dr Gerardo Garcia, Curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at Chester Zoo, said: "Hope is an incredibly special tortoise, for many reasons.
"Firstly, ploughshare tortoises are exceptionally rare. It’s not just the world’s most threatened species of tortoise, it’s one of the most threatened animals on the planet, full stop.
"Fewer than 300 now remain in the wild, mostly due to their overexploitation by illegal wildlife traders - leaving them functionally extinct in their home of Madagascar.
“In addition Hope has a remarkable life story, having been rescued from smugglers, discovered to have a missing leg and then having a prosthetic mobility support specially fitted to help him get around.
“It works wonderfully well - he moves even quicker than his three neighbours.
“He’s settling in nicely to his new home and hopefully, in several years’ time once he’s more developed, he’ll go on to produce offspring and contribute to the survival of the species thanks to the vital insurance population in conservation zoos.”
In the wild, the ploughshare tortoise is only found on a small remote stretch of sand, rock and bamboo on Madagascar.
Just 63 of the animals live legally outside Madagascar as part of the conservation breeding programmes.
Four of them are at Chester Zoo where they are being observed by scientists using 24-hour CCTV surveillance.
With their distinctive gold and black shells, ploughshare tortoises can fetch exceptionally high prices on the black market.
Mike Jordan, director of animals and plants at Chester Zoo, added: “This is a species that’s sadly under huge pressure for its survival and there’s a very real possibility that this species could be lost forever.
“That’s why Hope is such an important addition to the zoo. We refuse to sit back and see this incredible species disappear and so our aim now is to maintain an ark population, by coming together with some of the world’s other leading conservation zoos to breed a genetically viable safety net population and prevent its extinction.”