This blog reflects my personal experiences and opinions and does not represent or reflect those of DierenAmbulance Nederrijn.
Until now I’ve briefly looked after some turtles kept at the base until they’re brought to a turtle and tortoise sanctuary in the north of the Netherlands. This is about to change!
Called up and Jumped in!
A couple of days ago I was asked if I’d like to bring a turtle to the shelter. It’s a staggering 2 hour trip there, but it means the turtle will be well looked after. According to the shelter’s video, many turtles are dumped because they’re bought as pets when they’re small and cute, then when they grow older they’re dumped into Dutch waterways which aren’t suitable for their survival.
How many of these cretinous crap-holes would dump their teenagers in a pond because they’re growing up too quickly?
As well as bringing this turtle to a good place, we had the chance of a tour around the facility.
I was going to be travelling with another volunteer, who I’ll name here Patrick. Patrick also works on the piket (emergency / information line) so not only does he have a heavy involvement with the animal ambulance, but he really knows his stuff! It would be nice to get to know this guy some more.
So lots of reasons to jump at the chance to bring our shelled friend to the shelter!
Finder’s form secured and placed in the ambulance (the small ‘spare’ one we use for transport more than rescues), we moved onto the star of the show.
Moving the star of the show
Like yesterday, he seemed to hiss at me when I pulled him out of the water. Patrick told me this was indeed him hissing and nothing to do with the water. Nolan (I’m naming him this because of the No. 10 (ten) nail varnished onto him) wasn’t happy with me!
Nolan needed to be placed into a container small enough that he couldn’t climb up the side and fall over backwards, landing him up-side down and having a very uncomfortable 2 hour journey. The smallest container we had was too large; indeed I felt the box tipping under his weight as he climbed up one side as I moved it into the ambulance.
Our first stop was at a local turtle specialist who had a more suitable (smaller) container we could use. Then we set off on our 2 hour journey which morphed into 2.5 hours thanks to traffic having difficulty driving in a straight line at constant speed on a motorway. Eat your heart out, Newton.
On the way, Patrick told me Nolan was a “Sawback Turtle”. I remember looking at him yesterday and noting his jagged shell towards the back, perhaps where he gets the name. Nolan had been particularly difficult to catch – in fact, it took a year! Even in English I couldn’t quite make out what the problem was, but at least now he was safe in the back of the ambulance and on his way to a sanctuary. There he’d be with his own kind and taken care of in a safe environment suitable for turtles, rather than fending for himself in a non-native wild habitat.
Arrival
It was strange. When we pulled onto the road of the destination we saw a house with a van outside that clearly belonged to the turtle sanctuary. But it was at the wrong number. Was the admin incorrect? I was ready to pull up here, but Patrick had the sense to check out the location at the correct number first and he drove on. It was a wise decision because it was definitely the right place!
But there was bad news. It was closed 🙁 This was an unexpected and unwelcome surprise. Patrick made some calls, and either as a result of those, or generally walking around, we found a cupboard system similar to that of the wildlife rescue centre back home. A series of cupboards where we could place turtles (or tortoises if need be), make a note in a nearby notebook, and deliver the finder’s form in a letterbox.
I tested one of the cupboards and inadvertently locked it shut with no turtle inside. Thankfully there were plenty of other empty cupboards available, not just for us to use, but for other tortoise / turtle finders too. We placed Nolan inside one of them, followed protocol and closed the door. I felt sorry for him that he was now in the dark with no food or light. I suppose this is the same for the wild animals we rescue too. I hope he’ll be picked up soon.
Loitering
Patrick and I were extremely disappointed we weren’t able to tour the site with an estimated 5,000 turtles inside! I made out several tanks through the window, and if they were anything like the full tanks at the front that we could see wee, I can imagine this figure to be accurate.
At the side of the building outside were enclosures with what looked like small greenhouses. I think I could make out tortoises here, but I’m not sure if they were rocks.
Exploring the Local Habitat
We walked into the village to find a baker that sold some sort of traditional cake thing. It had closed at 13:00. So had many other shops there. Is this why the turtle sanctuary was also closed?
Even after 18 years living in the Netherlands I struggle with shops closing on Mondays. Closing on Thursday afternoons after 13:00 is also odd, right?
We headed over to town next door. This probably had less turtles, but it certainly had more life and we found these baked goods from a local baker rather than a from a chain. Found a cafe to get a drink, then headed home.
All in all…
It was a massively long day and it was a shame we missed out on the tour of the turtle sanctuary, but we were both happy we’d completed our primary objective – bringing Nolan to his new home! 🙂
