Animal advocate Bon Chan still remembers rescuing a turtle that spent 10 years trapped in a small box. It could not move because its shell had grown to match the container’s walls.
At the time, Chan was heartbroken but not surprised because he had seen many cases like this in Hong Kong. Turtles, he said, often endured their suffering in silence.
Seeing this mistreatment pushed Chan to start Turtle’s Inn in 2018. This animal rescue project helps abandoned reptiles and teaches people how to take better care of their pet turtles.
“People think they’re ... cheap, simple and easy to keep. But they’re not,” Chan said.
What turtles really need
In January, Chan plans to open an animal education centre in Sai Kung. Here, a dozen turtles swim in large tanks while others stretch their limbs in the sun.
This summer, Chan rescued some of these turtles from a filthy pool at King Lam Estate in Tseung Kwan O. These turtles could have died from the heat, he said. In winter, they could get sick.
According to Chan, turtles need to live in a body of water with enough space to swim. This also helps them maintain their body temperature.
Chan said: “Most people think as long as you soak them in a bit of water, they’ll survive. They won’t die, but that’s not really living.”
Many pet owners also might not realise that turtles can live for decades. And they think it is safe to leave their pet turtles in public parks or pools. This is a crime under Hong Kong law, but Chan said authorities needed to try harder to stop the abandonment of animals.
Two common spots for turtle abandonment are public parks and pools of water.
To save money, many pools in public housing estates would not have running water, Chan noted, adding that this was not healthy for turtles.
In public parks, people might mistakenly believe that authorities placed the turtles there for everyone to see.
To educate the public about this issue, Chan uses social media. A video he posted on Instagram in August showed the poor conditions the turtles were in at King Lam Estate. It got more than 1 million views.
“Many people learned from that video how miserable the turtles living in public parks actually are,” he said. “These parks are ... meant to be seen, not to keep animals.”
Education is key
To turn around the current culture of turtle treatment, Chan knew he had to start by teaching children. He wanted to build their empathy through hands-on experiences with animals.
He recalled a conversation with a kindergarten principal who wanted to help schools learn how to treat pet turtles well. The principal said that he had seen more than 20 turtles die in schools.
“Everyone buys them for education ... Very often, the turtles are used for a while and then left to die. By next year, they just buy another one,” Chan said. “I really want to stop this from happening.”
Turtle’s Inn has held hundreds of workshops and activities in Hong Kong schools.
Chan teaches students how to properly care for animals. The animal enthusiast guides them in setting up the tanks and other parts needed to create comfortable homes for their pets.
“We set up everything together ... All of it was made by the children’s own hands,” he said.
“I want the students to interact with me, to feel my passion and to be moved by it. I hope they understand why we do this.”
