A THREE-legged tortoise has been fitted with a set of wheels to help him get around.
Hope, a male ploughshare tortoise, was rescued from smugglers in Hong Kong and given a new lease of life in the UK.
Three-legged tortoise Hope has been fitted with a set of wheels to help him get around[/caption]
Hope was found to have a missing leg after being rescued from smugglers in Hong Kong[/caption]
And now he is able to roll around with three other tortoises at Chester Zoo after keepers fitted him with under-shell support rollers.
There are fewer than 300 of Hope’s kind in the wild in their native Madagascar.
Outside of that, only 63 legally exist as part of conservation breeding programmes to save the species.
The zoo’s Dr Gerardo Garcia said: “Hope is an incredibly special tortoise, for many reasons. Firstly, ploughshare tortoises are exceptionally rare.
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“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.
“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.”
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