Harriet the tortoise dies

[marko_the_rat]

It is with deepest regret that I have announce that Harriet the tortoise, the oldest animal in Australia, passed away of a heart attack at the age of 176. She was always my favourite whenever I visited Australia Zoo and I would eagerly go to her enclosure to see how she was going. The staff had hoped that she would live for many more years yet.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. :( Well, at least she had a long life...

On a side note, how do you find out how old a tortoise is?

[marko-the-rat.livejournal.com]

In the case of Harriet, I think it was an educated guess based on how old she looked when Charles Darwin picked her up.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Ah, OK...

[snooperfox.livejournal.com]

-hugs the rat- Mwerfle.

[quillblade.livejournal.com]

Awww... :(

[aldi.livejournal.com]

My condolences. I thought it was pretty cool that she was handled by Darwin himself and still living. At least she had a long peaceful life.

[marko-the-rat.livejournal.com]

The staff at Australia Zoo had hoped she'd live to 200 or 230, which is why this was such a shock to me. She was in the lap of luxury at Oz Zoo, but it wasn't always thus. Back in the 1950s she used to live in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens where she would wander freely and some visitors would carve their name into her shell or burn their cigarettes on her. (She does have feeling in her shell.) I suppose it's heartening to know that inhumane scum are not a new phenomenon.

[ringie-roo-mk2.livejournal.com]

Very sad, and yet very fitting. It's almost heartwarming to see an animal was taken such good care of and cherished so much that her death is morned by mere patrons at the zoo.

It sounds like she really did have a good life :)

[vass]

Oh. That's so sad. :-(