Three-legged tortoise rescued from smugglers rehomed at Chester Zoo

Experts have also fitted it with a unique set of modifications to help it get around!

The tortoise – one of the world’s rarest animals with fewer than 300 remaining in the wild – was rescued by customs officials from a would-be wildlife trader who was found with a suitcase concealing 57 live and endangered tortoises when travelling from the Comoro Islands off the coast of East Africa in 2019.

The illegal trafficker was subsequently jailed for two years, the heaviest penalty ever imposed under Hong Kong’s animal protection laws at the time.

A plucky male ploughshare tortoise, nicknamed Hope, is now part of a vital conservation-breeding programme for the critically endangered species at Chester Zoo, thanks to a specially fitted prosthetic mobility support.

The ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) was immediately transferred into the care of conservationists at 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, possibly due to a birth defect or injury picked up when very young.

READ MORE: Chester Zoo crowned large visitor attraction of the year in national awards event

Experts therefore set about fitting three support rollers under its lower shell, or plastron, to help it to walk and balance.

Now, the plucky male tortoise has arrived at Chester Zoo where vets have since made further modifications to the wheels to ensure his mobility support is perfectly optimised to help him get around his new surroundings.

 

Conservationists at the zoo have affectionately nicknamed the tortoise Hope and say he’ll eventually join an important European conservation-breeding programme, which is playing a vital role in saving the critically endangered species from extinction.

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.”

READ MORE: Rare miniature kangaroo born at Chester Zoo

In the wild, the ploughshare tortoise is found only on a small, remote stretch of sand, rock and bamboo on the island of Madagascar.

The species is listed under the highest protection category of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES), prohibiting all forms of international commercial trade. It is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) having been poached to the very brink of extinction.