turtle love for Anthony and Cleopatra
turtle love for Anthony and Cleopatra
AYLESFORD, N.S. — Anthony has found love, at last.
The rare and endangered Egyptian tortoise had a hard and lonely life until Cleopatra entered the picture.
Anthony and Cleopatra
Anthony arrived in Nova Scotia three years ago as an illegal immigrant. He was brought in without the proper paperwork so the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) ended up taking him.
"We had no way of knowing if he'd come from the wild or from a breeding facility," said Les Sampson, with CWS.
Anthony was sent to Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Aylesford, near Kentville. There he languished, 40 and single, while a search got underway to find him a mate.
"I talk to him a lot, so he enjoys me, I guess. But I'm no female tortoise, though," said Mike Brobbel of Oaklawn Farm.
But Cleopatra is. After several years of looking, the farm and CWS discovered Cleo in the United States.
"It was a lonely first couple of years and we were quite glad to finally find him a mate. And he was quite glad too. Within minutes of her being introduced, he was chasing her around," said Brobbel.
Baby tortoises are expected in the spring.
