# Varnished Tortoise



## Tortoise-Luke (Mar 20, 2011)

Well ive been debating on this a lot, last week i needed some fish food and other things for my aquarium. where i live there's a "fair" nearby where local breeders gather on sundays to sell fish, cats, dogs, birds and all other normal animales and their respective food accesories etc.. me and the gf decided to go there to get what i needed since we'd never been there before and really enjoy going to zoos seeing animals and thought it could be a nice visit.
ok, so we get there early everything looks nice all the animals seem fairlyhealthy and in good condition after i get what i needed and have a look around we decide to leave and as it turns out on the outside of the fair there are a bunch of people with wild/exotic animales for sale (obviously illegal and caught in the wild) this made me very sad seeing a guy with parrots, small eagles and owls in his hoodie, but what pissed me off was this guy selling tortoise and turtles out of a cardboard box the worst one was a geochelone chilensis which i would say was an adult that had lost its color due to its age (normal in tortoises i would assume) but the dude selling it had varnished it so that it would be shiny and more appealing i guess.. i wanted to buy it and try to save it somehow by removing the varnish which will eventually end up intoxicating it. it was only 20us$ but i didnt want to support this "behaviour" by doing so... what should i do im planning on going back and see if its still there... any opinions?


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## NEtorts (Mar 20, 2011)

Well Luke, I would start by calling athorities becase if you buy an illegal animal you could be at risk....can I ask where this was, just a general area is fine.....a us state?


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## Torty Mom (Mar 20, 2011)

Ugh, that is just terrible. The poor tortie is most likely already getting toxic from just the varish alone. 

NEtorts, I think he said he was from South America, not sure though.


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## dolfanjack (Mar 20, 2011)

If the guy is selling birds of prey it cant be the US.


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## Tortoise-Luke (Mar 20, 2011)

its argentina south america, buenos aires to be specific and nevermind the authorities there was a cop actually talkin to a guy with an owl in his hands... what would you have done?
do you think the tort could be saved?


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## Laura (Mar 20, 2011)

not the 'cops' but wildlife authorities.. We have Fish and Game here. 
Although.. they are problably over worked underpaid or dont exist..
By buying the animals it makes them get more.. its a vicious circle..:-(


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## ALDABRAMAN (Mar 20, 2011)

NEtorts said:


> Well Luke, I would start by calling athorities becase if you buy an illegal animal you could be at risk....can I ask where this was, just a general area is fine.....a us state?


Ditto, not worth the risk.


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## bikerchicspain (Mar 21, 2011)

Report them definitely.
Otherwise they will carry on doing it, and also spreading disease in the receiving country..


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## EricIvins (Mar 25, 2011)

They rub them down with Coconut oil.......No different than the Redfoots I get from Guyana.......

If you were a prosepctive buyer, would you buy a dirty Tortoise or a clean shiny Tortoise?

Nothing wrong with it - I do the same thing if I bring Tortoises to a show or sell a tortoise online if time permits......


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