Posted on 06/23/2015 10:55:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The San Diego Zoo's Galapagos tortoise Speed, estimated to be more than 150 years old, has died.
Speed had been under veterinary care for geriatric conditions including arthritis and was euthanized by zoo staff on Friday.
Veterinarians had worked to treat Speed with medications, hydrotherapy, acupuncture and physical therapy treatments during his later years. The tortoise came to the zoo in the 1930s as a part of an effort to help preserve tortoise species from the Volcan Cerro Azul Island of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.
Speed was known in his younger years as an alpha male who would butt heads with other males in dominance skirmishes. Speed helped create more than 90 tortoises as a part of a breeding group.
Galapagos tortoises were once hunted for food and placed until protection in 1959. They are a critically endangered species. The tortoise lived in the Children’s Zoo for a period of time before being moved to the Galapagos tortoise habitat. Thirteen Galapagos tortoises still remain at the zoo.
Turtle Soup
Ingredients
1-1/3 pounds turtle meat
4-1/2 cups water
2 medium onions
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons tomato puree
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Directions
In a heavy 4-qt. saucepan, bring turtle meat and water to a boil. Skim off foam. Chop 1 onion and set aside. Quarter the other onion; add to saucepan along with bay leaf, cayenne pepper and salt. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and cut into 1/2-in. cubes; set aside. Strain broth and set aside. Rinse and dry saucepan; melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook chopped onion until tender. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly and lightly browned. Whisk in reserved broth; cook and stir until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer,
uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add chicken broth, eggs, lemon juice and meat. Simmer for 5 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with parsley if desired. Yield: 4-6 servings.
I sat on that big guy back in ‘59 at the SD Zoo. Damn...
That would depend on whether he supported the Union or the Confederacy.
*SNICKERING*
I Guess the strain was too much..wish “Bitch” McConnell
soon would join him. He’s my very corrupt Senator.
I can think of others in Washington I wish could join them.
I have the desire to draw the Confederate flag on his back.
He smoked 2 pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes and a fifth of Whiskey a day.
Interesting that the American spin is that it ‘died’, while some foreign sources indicate that it was put down by the zoo.
Someone isn’t giving us the straight story.
Here we go for the foreign treatment:
Galapagos Island tortoise Speed put down by zookeepers at 150
Yes, I remember him from the Children’s Zoo, too.
It was always good to see him. : (
I remember seeing tortoises in the San Diego Zoo in 1951. No doubt Speed was one of them.
Is that true of all creatures in a zoo? Or just a tortoise?
His last words were:
“Oh, Forrest, it’s just my time.”
I’ve been saying for years....Zoos should be done away with. Breeding means big bucks....real big bucks. Do it in their native surroundings.
Fascinating story.
Question: Jonathan’s species is given as “Testudinipae cytodira”, but it looks like that encompasses most turtles and tortoises.
Is a Seychelles turtle the same as a Galapagos Turtle?
Zoos are immoral.
It’s the place you take your kids to see sad animals.
My wife roped me into getting a Zoo Pass, and every time we go the injustice is more galling to me.
If it weren’t for zoos, there would NOT be any Galapagos Tortoises or hundreds of other endangered species.
Zoo have served to protect these animals as they have educated and informed millions of the dangers they face.
Shelby: Turtle Whisperer
http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/videos/shelby-turtle-whisperer
The unfairness of turtles outliving people is one of the sorrows about life that was on my mind when I got saved.
"Speed helped create more than 90 tortoises as a part of a breeding group."
Looking at it from Speed's POV, he had a pretty good life.
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