SWNS_WHEELY_TORTOISE_09

A plucky male ploughshare tortoise, nicknamed Hope, is now part of a vital conservation-breeding programme for the critically endangered species at Chester Zoo, thanks to a specially fitted prosthetic mobility support. See SWNS story SWMDtortoise; A three-legged ploughshare tortoise that was seized from illegal smugglers in Hong Kong has been given a new home at Chester Zoo, after experts fitted it with a unique set of modifications to help it get around. The tortoise – one of the world’s rarest animals with fewer than 300 remaining in the wild – was rescued by customs officials from a would-be wildlife trader who was found with a suitcase concealing 57 live and endangered tortoises when travelling from the Comoro Islands off the coast of East Africa in 2019.