After Midland Police found a lost tortoise and returned it to its rightful owner, officials learned Midland is a tortoise friendly community.
In speaking with one Tall City tortoise owner, the reptile is easy to keep, they live long and don’t require any more attention than a dog or cat.
This could be why their pet population is growing in Midland.
Tortoises in the Tall City are becoming family members, something Victoria Corrales with A to Z Vet Clinic said is growing more and more common.
“Actually it’s a lot larger than most people would think,” Corrales said. “We see on average, maybe about one to two a week.”
The Midland animal clinic has about ten tortoises kept behind their building and Corrales said it’s perfectly legal to own one of these big guys as a pet.
“There’s not a lot of regulations on owning, for example, our African tortoises,” Corrales said. “So people can own them, the only problem is that unfortunately, they get too big for the owners.”
One of those Tall City tortoise owners, Pam Stoltz, said theirs isn’t too big and ‘Vernon’ is a huge part of their household.
“It’s like having a small cow,” Stoltz said. “He’s just constantly grazing. He’s taken over the backyard.”
Stoltz said they got Vernon from a neighbor eight years ago, who got the tortoise back when he was a little shell at a pet store.
“He has a water bowl like a dog, sticks his head in the water,” Stoltz said. “We bring him in in the winter and he sleeps in our kitchen all winter long, in a little manger.”
Since tortoises live much longer than humans do, Vernon is in the family will and Stoltz would like Vernon to even have some tortoise friends around Midland too.
“I’d love a little meet and greet here in the front yard,” Stoltz said. “If they’d bring theirs over, I’d love it [laughs].”
If you would like a tortoise of your own, just contact the A to Z Vet Clinic, but be prepared for them to weigh nearly 80 pounds.
(Information from YourBasin.com)
