With the San Diego Comic-Con announcement that the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon will soon air on Nickelodeon — timed to the release of a new animated movie subtitled Mutant Mayhem — a tortoise advocacy group is speaking up.
American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), the country’s first national turtle and tortoise rescue, notes, “History shows that after the release of a series of these successful Ninja movies, turtles lose their lives through the pet trade.”
The group continues, “Most of the turtles have been scooped out of the wild to be sold in pet stores or over the internet. After seeing the film and thinking real turtles jump through the air or fly like Ninja Turtles, kids ask parents to buy live turtles.”
ATR adds, “Sadly, after bringing the turtle home, sticking it in a small tank and waiting for it to perform, kids abandon interest when nothing happens – the turtle just sits there.”
Susan Tellem, co-founder and executive director of ATR, explains, “I like to say putting a turtle in a tank is how we would feel if we had to live in a bathtub all our lives.”
After previous Ninja Turtles movies, Tellem said parents have scooped up turtles for their kids as an uninformed “impulse buy.”
“…Turtles can live 25 years or more,” Tellem continues. “Sadly, most of these turtles were abandoned in shelters and rescues or dumped into lakes and waterways (or worse, toilets) after the movie’s young fans found out that the real turtles did not fight crime or perform incredible stunts.”
The organization advocates, “The best thing parents can do is purchase action figure toys that actually mimic the ninja movements from the film.”