End of Year Review 2008

A Year of Good Progress

The Tortoise Protection Group was launched in January, 2007 with the aim of stopping the importation of tortoises into the UK for the commercial pet trade, and to promote high standards of husbandry in tortoise keeping.  We thought our members might want to read a brief summary (in no particular order) of our activities over the last  year. 

New Website and Yahoo forum

On 11 June we launched the new TPG website which was designed to complement some of the best existing websites in providing authoritative information on all aspects of tortoise keeping.  This has been a huge success, and feedback indicates that our care sheets and articles on all aspects of tortoise husbandry, as well as the website forum and our links to valuable resources have proved really useful to our members, and we are continually adding to these.

We continue to maintain the Yahoo tortoise forum http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/TortoiseProtectionGroup/ , and that currently has well over 1,000 members

Rehoming Service

Our TPG rehoming service took off in a big way, and in the last year we have re-homed over 30 tortoises and a terrapin.  Fortunately, we are aware of our limitations (our resources do not allow us to give temporary homes to aquatic turtles, before finding them a permanent home), and so we now concentrate on rehoming tortoises and recommend that people with turtles to rehome contact the Tortoise Trust and the British Chelonia Group.  Any member who feels they can offer a good home to a turtle or terrapin should contact those groups.

Petition

Our petition to ban the importation of tortoises for the UK pet trade continues to gather signatures.  At present we have over 15,000 signatures (both online & on paper) and they are still growing.  If you haven't signed yet, or have friends or family members who haven't signed, please print out sheets of our paper petition here.

Political  and Educational Activity

Over the last year we have had extensive and ongoing correspondence with a very sympathetic MP, and he has promised to help us by raising questions in Parliament, and by talking to various officers at DEFRA (Animal Health).  We have also corresponded with the Chief Executive of Animal Health, and asked her to answer some very difficult questions.  Recently we were told about another MP and a member of the House of Lords who might be willing to help us, and we will be contacting them soon.

Several of the TPG moderators have given talks to various bodies, including schools.  Darren and Ali gave a talk at the Hampshire Tortoise Society and they will be giving presentations at other regional groups during the coming year.  Darren and Steph have also given talks at primary schools in Kent, in order to further the educational aims of the TPG, and these were extremely well received by the children, who were fascinated by the information presented.

In the summer, Helen hosted a group of 20 primary school children who came to look at her tortoises and learn about aspects of tortoise care. She also had a visit from a group from a women's organisation, who were most interested to learn about the problems involved in tortoise importation and the issues involved in their ongoing care.  Towards the end of last year Helen was asked to give a talk in January 2009 to a group of animal welfare students at Grimsby College.

Co-operation with other groups

As mentioned above, we have worked closely with the BCG regarding rehoming, and we have also worked with the Tortoise Trust in gathering information on various issues.

The RSPCA have approached us several times for advice and help in rehoming – most recently the Scarborough RSPCA in December 2008.

Over the last year we have worked closely with the PWCOs (Police Wildlife Crime Officers) around the country, most notably in getting them to follow up reports from members of tortoise abuse in pet shops.

We were also invited to attend the Hamm Reptile Fair in Germany, in March of this year, and our report on the substandard conditions at that Fair was incorporated into an official report about it  http://www.iar.org.uk/news/2008/mar08-5.shtml  and a subsequent two-part video that was distributed widely:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tLAJR_dlL28   and
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CNuO5KfBGmk&feature=related

The TPG also has a large following on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=5669812423  with over 1,300 members and growing fast.

Fundraising

We are very clear that the administrative costs of running the TPG should be met for the most part by our own fundraising activities, but we welcome donations from members and sympathetic parties, as all money that we receive goes towards the welfare of tortoises.  In order to raise funds for our activities and admin costs, in previous years we ran a sponsored three-legged walk through the streets of Chester, and in 2008 we attended various fairs and events with a TPG stand, offering information and various materials about tortoise keeping, and selling tortoise souvenirs.  Some of the events we attended were:
RSPCA Dog Show, Driffield, Yorkshire
RSPCA fund raising day, Ashford, Kent
Challock Goose Fair, Challock, Kent
Rhodes Minnis Cat Sanctuary, Kent
Lord Whiskey fund raising day, Kent

Our members have also been very kind in making donations to the TPG, and we aim to use this for the welfare of individual tortoises (transportation, veterinary bills, equipment, etc.). 

County Court Judgment Against Pet Shop

We were asked to assist a new tortoise keeper, a TPG member, with a court case she had filed against a pet shop.  This we were happy to do, and after enlisting the help of the Tortoise Trust, a case was made and heard in County Court in December 2008.  The judge ordered the pet shop to refund monies paid for selling inappropriate equipment (a vivarium,  etc.).

The TPG have since found the tortoise a loving new home at the request of its owner.

 The Outlook for 2009

Over the next year we plan to continue our efforts to secure more signatures on the petition, to add useful material to the website, to further strengthen and extend our ties to sympathetic members of Parliament, to find permanent homes for tortoises that need them, and to extend our research into the conditions present in UK pet shops and the laws governing the importation of tortoises into this country.  With the support of our members, we hope to make significant progress towards achieving our goals.