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Loading...Tortoise, 98, Witnessed Gallipoli and Outlived Owner
A retired tortoise breeder is seeking to return a 98-year-old tortoise, Blake, to his native home, the beaches of Gallipoli in Turkey.
According to the Telegraph, back in 1916, a British serviceman now only remembered as Mr. Marris took the tortoise from the beach in Turkey “as shells rained overhead” in the Gallipoli Campaign, which is regarded as one of the greatest disasters for the Allies in World War I.
Gallipoli is located near the Dardanelles, a narrow strait in northern Turkey. The British and French, with volunteer soldiers from Australia and New Zealand as well as British India, undertook the campaign to secure a sea route to Russia (because Germany and Austria-Hungary controlled access to land routes at that time) and also to capture Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Allies lost in what was regarded as a major victory for Turkey (whose troops were fewer in number), with both sides suffering heavy casualties of at least half a million.
Marris carried the tortoise in his backpack on 2,000 mile journey back to his home in Blakeney, Norfolk. The tortoise outlived Marris and, in 1983, was given to a woman named Marion Skinner, for breeding. But Skinner, now 67 years old, is struggling to care for Blake and is hoping that he could be returned to the beaches where he began his life, as she says in the Telegraph:
“He always loved the sunshine and the warmth of the green house so I am certain he would enjoy being back in his natural environment.
“It would be an incredible ending to his incredible story.
“There are complications. Tortoises can’t really travel internationally because they can carry pathogens and other conditions that can be passed on to natives.
“If someone was going to take him they would have to be prepared to have him screened.
“But Blake would love the temperature and the climate.
“I don’t know how feasible it would be releasing him into the wild, but tortoises cannot be caught anymore, so he wouldn’t be in much danger.
“If there’s anyway Blake could go back to Turkey that would be fantastic.”
Whether or not Blake, described as now “geriatric,” would survive such a journey or be able to live again in the wild after a century in England, is uncertain.
An ideal home for Blake, says Skinner, would be a “secure sunny garden, with a healthy diet of weeds and wildflowers dusted with calcium,” with “warm dry shelter” in cooler weather. Eleanor Tirtasana, rehoming officer at the Tortoise Club, notes that Blake, like many tortoises, could live into his hundreds.
Finding a good home for the elderly tortoise, whose history is certainly more than interesting, is the chief concern. The Telegraph says that Blake was “rescued” from Gallipoli and more details about the circumstances under which he was taken from the beach so long ago are not provided. Perhaps he was not in danger? Might Marris have taken the tortoise as a memento of the campaign, which is remembered as a military failure that led to political fallout in Britain?
(Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, was forced to end his single-party Liberal government and form a coalition government with the Conservative Party while Winston Churchill who had, in his position as First Lord of the Admiralty, first put forward plans to attack the Dardanelles, was demoted.)
Where is the best place for a tortoise who has indeed lived a remarkable life — what would he tell us about Gallipoli and much more if her could — to live out the rest of his days?
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Read more: gallipoli, tortoise, turkey, turtle, world war one
Photo by afanc
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+ add your ownThanks for sharing!
Long Live Blake! I hope they find him a happy place for however long he has.
Thank you for sharing.
i very much like Hartson's comment. very sweet.
I guess turtles should just be free and in their home land, humans don't need them as pets! Thanks for article, hope this one can get home and if he does sure hope he can survive!
I have a similar issue with my pet turtle. He has been in a tank without another turtle . This turtle is at least 15 years old and I am tossing around in my head weither to release him into an area that I have seen other turtles. If I keep it, it'll never know what being a free turtle is. It'll never reproduce. It'll never again eat Costco rotisserie chicken. This is it's favorite. It'll never again have a human talk to it and tell it what a beautiful turtle it is. It actually responds to this attention. It'll follow you around and stand on your foot. It'll come in between your legs and do a push up. It wants to be picked up. It actually seems to LIKE humans. What would I be doing to it if I released it?
amazing
What a life.... I would love to find out when he's placed with a nice sunny home. He is safer in captivity, since he's lived in it for SO long!
Blake is a elderly, but healthy male ibera spur thigh. Unfortunately even at Blake's it would be cruel to keep him with other tortoises. Tortoises like a solitary life in the wild only meeting to feed and mate. If left with other tortoises he will be prone to fighting with other males or attacking other females which can lead top stress or even death. The concept of 'Sanctuary' for tortoises is very dangerous particularly for elderly tortoises due to the high risk of catching diseases from other tortoises. The best place for Blake would be with a private home where he can thrive on one to one care and attention. A large natural environment with access to greenhouse, variety of healthy weeds/ flowers. calcium. More details at Tortoise Club . org
Blake is a elderly, but healthy male ibera spur thigh. Unfortunately even at Blake's it would be cruel to keep him with other tortoises. Tortoises like a solitary life in the wild only meeting to feed and mate. If left with other tortoises he will be prone to fighting with other males or attacking other females which can lead top stress or even death. The concept of 'Sanctuary' for tortoises is very dangerous particularly for elderly tortoises due to the high risk of catching diseases from other tortoises. The best place for Blake would be with a private home where he can thrive on one to one care and attention. A large natural environment with access to greenhouse, variety of healthy weeds/ flowers. calcium. More details at Tortoise Club . org
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