Welcome to
Harpo & Friends
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A website dedicated to the memory of Harpo,
and tortoises everywhere,
who didn't get a good start in life.
They didn't ASK to be kept as pets -
they deserved to live as if they were in the wild.
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A paragraph from Harpo's web journal,
that I've been told is a "must read" for all tortoise keepers:
"...I knew proper diet and husbandry was extremely important
to all chelonians, whatever species they may be.
But I can't help but think that the word "important" just doesn't cut it.
"Vital" or "crucial" or "imperative" might be better words.
"Non-negotiable" might be another.
And just because you rescue a tortoise
and PUT them on a correct diet,
doesn't mean that their previous diet
won't come back to bite you in the butt years later.
Harpo lived in a bathtub and ate microwaved pumpkin
and canned tortoise food before he came to live with me -
and look whats happening to him NOW,
almost five years later, as a result...
There is no way of knowing and only time will tell,
but we **OWE** it to these creatures to
DO OUR RESEARCH
BEFORE BRINGING THEM INTO OUR HOMES AND LIVES!!!
We **OWE** it to them to be committed enough
to create habitats and feed them diets that are
as as close as possible to what they would find in nature
SO THAT THEY WILL STAY HEALTHY!!!!
Otherwise, we're cutting their lives short and doing them an injustice,
and therefore, we have no business keeping them in captivity. "
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Pages Included in this website:
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